LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

University  of  California. 


GIFT    OF 


Class 


■  <^ 


^^Mf.  2.T^ 


BOLTON 


^M 


Fourth'  of  July, 


1876. 


ADDRESS 


DELIVERED   IX   THE 


FIRST  PARISH  CHURCH  IN  BOLTON 

JULY  4th,  1876, 

AT  THE 

CENTENNIAL    CELEBRATION     OF    THE    ANNIVERSARY    OF 

AMERICAN    INDEPENDENCE;   AND   ALSO   IN 

OBSERVANCE  OF  THE 

138th  Anniversary  of  the  Incorporation  of  the  Town: 


By  RICHARD  S.  EDES. 

/I 


TOGETHER    WITH     OTHER     PROCEEDINGS     RELATING     TO 
THE     SAME     OCCASION, 


WITH    AN    APPENDIX 


CLINTON  : 

PRINTED  BY  W.  J.  COULTER,  COURANT  OFFICE. 

1877. 


;^^ 


Digitized  by  tine  Internet  Archive 

in  2008  witii  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.arcliive.org/details/addressdeliveredOOedesricli 


w^r? 


INTRODUCTORY    NOTE. 


At  a  legal  meeting  of  the  Town  of  Bolton,  held  on  Monday,  April 
3d,  1876,  it  was  voted  that  a  committee  of  five  be  appointed  by  the  Chair 
to  make  arrangements  for  a  Centennial  Celebration  on  the  4th  of  July, 
1876;  said  arrangements  to  be  without  expense  to  the  town. 

The  Moderator  appointed  as  members  of  this  committee  :  N.  P.  Gil- 
man,  R.  S.  Edes,  B.  a.  Edwards,  N.  A.  Newton,  and  F.  E.  Whit- 
comb.  They  subsequently  organized  by  choosing  N.  P.  Oilman  as 
Chairman,  B.  A.  Edwards  as  Secretary,  N.  A.  Newton  as  Treasurer,  and 
F.  E.  Whitcomb  as  Soliciting  Committee.  (The  expenses  of  the  cele- 
bration, amounting  to  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars,  were  met  by 
a  general  subscription.) 

At  a  town  meeting  held  June  26th,  Roswell  Barrett,  J.  D.  Hurl- 
DUT,  and  Paul  Whitcomb  were  added  to  the  committee.  Enoch  C. 
Pierce,  Sergt.  Co.  F,  13th  Regt.  Mass.  Vols.,  was  chosen  Chief  Mar- 
shal, and  S.  F.  Edwards,  Chief  Decorator. 

The  exercises  of  the  Fourth  were  held  in  the  meeting-house  of  the 
First  Congregational  Church,  at  ten  o'clock  A.  M.  After  the  performance 
by  the  Hudson  Brass  Band  of  suitable  music,  the  President  of  the  Day- 
made  a  brief  opening  address,  in  substance  as  follows  : 

Fellow  Citizens  : — We  meet  here  to  celebrate  the  festival  of  our  na- 
tion's birthday.  All  over  our  land  Americans  are  today  observing  the  one 
hundrcth  anniversary  of  our  country's  life.  But  wc  are  mindful  here  of  a 
double  duty.  Our  great  republic  is  made  up  of  many  little  republics ; 
because  of  these  the  nation  came  into  existence.  The  New  England  town- 
ship paved  the  way  for  the  independence  of  the  whole  country  in  such  a 
degree  that  "  in  1650  the  Republic  was  already  virtually  established.'''  Of 
one  of  these  small  democracies  we  now  observe,  with  but  a  few  day's  de- 
lay, the  one  hundred  and  thirty-eighth  anniversary.  The  founders  of  this 
town,  as  well  as  all  who  built  this  nation,  were  men  of  a  true  religious 
faith.  "  Our  civilization,''  De  Tocqueville  has  well  .said,  "  is  the  re.sult  of 
two  distinct  elements,  which  in  other  places  have  been  in  frequent  hostility, 
but  here  in  America  have  been  admirably  incorporated  and  combined  with 
each  other,  the  spirit  of  religion  and  the  spirit  of  liberty.'''  Our  Puritan 
forefathers  did  not  "  make  religion  twelve  and  the  world  thirteen."  Re- 
membering them,  remembering  the  motto  on  their  pine-tree  flag,  remem- 
bering the  fortunes  of  a  hundred  years,  we  most  fitly  open  our  exercises 
today  with  an  "appeal  to  Heaven." 

Prayer  was  then  offered  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  T.  Stone,  D.  D.,  and 
the  American  Hymn  sung  by  a  select  choir.     "That  noble  Declaration, 


159140 


IV 

which,  written  in  words  whose  memory  can  never  perish,  ought  to  be 
hung  up  in  the  nursery  of  every  king  and  blazoned  on  the  porch   of 
every  royal  palace,"  was  read  by  Rev.   B.  A.  Edwards,  and  the  Star 
Spangled  Banner  suhg  by  children  from  one  of  the  public  schools. 
Introducing  the  Orator  of  the  Day,  the  President  said : 

Fellow  Citizens  : — The  Tree  of  Liberty  under  which  we  gratefully 
gather,  whose  leaves  are  for  "  the  healing  of  the  nation,"  has  many  root's 
and  rootlets.  Here  among  these  hills  of  Bolton,  one  rootlet  fastened 
itself  in  the  soil,  to  draw  from  it  sap  and  sustenance  for  the  parent  trunk. 
In  a  fertile  earth,  beneath  a  kindly  sky,  the  little  root  did  its  necessary 
helpful  work.  Sustained  by  it  and  by  a  thousand  like  it,  the  tree  grew 
and  flourished.  We  are  fortunate  in  having  among  us  a  fellow-citizen, 
whom  your  committee  unanimously  chose  to  address  you  today,  as  the 
fittest  person  to  describe  the  course  of  life  through  which  this  Bolton 
rootlet  of  the  American  Tree  of  Liberty  has  passed." 

The  Address  followed.  Upon  its  conclusion,  and  after  the  singing 
of  Hail  Columbia  by  the  choir,  and  of  America  by  the  audience,  the 
benediction  was  given  by  Rev.  J.  W.  Chickering,  D.  D.,  a  former  pas- 
tor of  the  Hillside  Church  in  Bolton. 

The  dinner  was  laid  on  tables  erected  under  tlie  trees  in  front  of  the 
church.  After  due  attention  had  been  paid  to  "the  physical  basis  of  life," 
the  chairman  called  the  company  to  order  with  a  few  remarks,  and  then 
proceeded  to  call  upon  gentlemen  present  to  respond  to  appropriate  senti- 
ments. Responses  were  made  by  Rev.  Mr.  Edes,  for  Lancaster;  by  Rev. 
Mr.  HouGHTOx,  for  Berlin:  by  J.  T.  Joslin,  Esq.,  for  Hudson;  by  A. 
R.  Powers,  Esq.,  for  Bolton  ;  by  Rev.  Dr.  Chickering,  for  the  churches  ; 
by  Rev.  Mr.  Edwards,  for  the  schools ;  by  Dr.  Robert  T.  Edes,  of 
Boston,  for  the  United  States  Navy;  and  by  F.  E.  Whitcomb,  Esq.,  for 
the  Farmers'  Club. 

Letters  were  received,  and  the  majority  of  them  read  during  the  after- 
dinner  exercises,  from  Hon.  George  Bancroft,  Thos.  Wentworth 
Higginson,  Waldo  Higginson,  Br.  Gen.  Thos.  Sherwin,  Rev.  Geo.  W. 
HosMER,  D.  D.,  Rev.  Geo.  S.  Ball,  Rev.  E.  C.  L.  Brown,  Rev.  F.  L. 
HosMER,  and  Hon.  William  Stone,  Attorney-General  of  South  Carolina. 

Fireworks  and  a  concert  on  the  Common  closed  this  highly-successful 
celebration  of  the  birthday  of  the  town  and  the  nation. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  town,  held  March  5th,  1877,  it  was 

Voted,  To  raise  and  appropriate  for  printing  the  address  delivered  on 
the  Centennial  Celebration,  July  4th,  1876,  together  with  the  other  pro- 
ceedings connected  with  said  celebration,  the  sum  of  one  hundred.dollars. 

Voted,  That  every  family  in  town  receive  one  copy  of  such  pamphlet 
gratis. 

Voted,  To  send  one  copy  to  every  non-resident  tax-payer. 

In  compliance  with  this  vote,  the  Address  is  now  presented  by  the 
committee  to  the  citizens  of  the  town. 


ADDRESS. 


Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  — 

Let  us  begin  by  taking  for  granted  the  main  fa6ls  of 
history,  down  to  the  landing  of  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  at  Ply- 
mouth, and  down  to  a  period  more  than  a  century  later. 
Let  us  observe  at  once,  that  at  the  times  and  in  the  place 
to  which  our  attention  must  be  turned  to-day,  those  who 
went  before  tis,  even  as  were  those  who  went  before  them, 
and  as  those  on  the  stage  now,  were  "  members  one  of 
another,"  catching  each  others'  tlioughts,  imitating  each 
others'  examples,  influencing  each  others'  conduct  —  not 
only  as  so  many  individuals,  but  as  communities,  as  towns, 
and  in  other  large  wa3^s.  That  ideas  circulate  like  the 
blood,  probably  all  will  admit.  General  history  is  a  com- 
mon multiple,  to  which  many  local  histories  may  contribute  ; 
and  given  a  general  produ6t,  and  some  of  its  determined 
factors,  the  others,  comprised  in  any  particular  local  mem- 
ories or  traditions,  are  easily  to  be  ascertained. 

Or,  to  express  our  thought  in  another  way,  if  general 
history  present  the  larger  atiion  of  the  piece,  the  chief 
a6lors  in  the  drama  ;  local  historv  may  furnish  the  side 
lights,  and  the  characiters  which,  though  called  subordi- 
nate, may  be  none  the  less  necessary  to  the  completeness, 
of  the  whole,  to  the  full  working  out  of  the  plot.  Or, 
leaving  the  abstract,  and  coming  into  the  concrete,  to  know 
New  England  you  must  know  those  "  little  democracies," 
its  towns  ;  and  so  if  you  would  study  to  advantage  the  his- 
tory of  any  one  town,  it  may  be  well  to  start  with  some 
general  ideas  of  the  whole -of  which  it  forms  a  fractional 
part. 


Impressed  with  thoughts  such  as  tliese,  which  it  is  need- 
less to  expand,  I  ask  you  to  go  back  with  me  for  a  brief 
while,  to  a  little  more  than  a  century  and  a  quarter  ago, 
to  A.  D.  1738,  viz.  to  the  time  when  Bolton  become  an 
independent  township,  —  while  I  sketch,  in  a  very  general 
way,  a  picture  of  the  prevailing  condition  of  things  as  it  was 
in  the  small  country  towns  of  Massachusetts  Bay. 

The  country  hereabouts  had  been  becoming  settled  in  a 
sort  for  a  little  more  than  a  century  :  —  slowly  opening  from 
an  utter  wilderness  inhabited  only  by  savages  and  wild 
beasts,  and  spreading  into  communities  having  some  of  the 
ruder  arts  of  life,  and  chara6lerized  by  habits  of  law  and 
order.  But  only  here  and  there  had  clearings  been  made 
in  the  woods,  and  settlements  started.  After  many  con- 
fli6ls  with  them,  many  sackings,  burnings  and  massacres 
suffered  y>'i?/;/  them  —  in  which  this  town  then  a  portion  of 
Lancaster  suffered  with  the  rest  —  the  aboriginal  inhabit- 
ants were  still  far  from  being  altogether  banished  or  exter- 
minated. [Appendix,  A].  They  lingered  about  in  va- 
rious localities ;  according  to  their  nomadic  habits,  found 
their  way  from  place  to  place  ;  had  special  seats  assigned 
them  whenever — which  was  but  seldom — they  wandered  of 
a  Sunday  into  the  houses  of  worship  ;  and  were  quite  often 
to  be  seen  by  the  kitchen  hearth  as  the  housewife  cooked 
her  dinner,  or  sitting  by  the  fire  while  her  baby  slumbered 
in  the  cradle.  Though  much  enfeebled,  in  broken  rem- 
nants, consumed  under  the  combined  effects  of  their  own 
improvident  habits,  wide-spreading  pestilences  and  epi- 
demics, and  the  "fire  water"  introduced  among  them  by 
the  whites,  the  Indians  were  slowly  wasting  away  before 
the  march  of  civilization,  like  the  proud  forests  around 
them,  once  all  their  own. 

The  native  animals,  hardly  a  grade  lower  in  the  scale 
than  the  savages — the  wolves,  the  bears,  the  wild  cats,  the 
deer  —  continued  to  inhabit  the  woods  and  the  fields,  as  the 
salmon  and  shad  did  the  streams.     Their  numbers  were  so 


large  as  to  keep  the  farmer  on  the  alert  to  protect  his  flocks 
and  herds,  and  in  his  leisure  hours,  whenever  he  could  find 
or  make  them,  to  furnish  him  with  the  exciting,  and  fre- 
quently dangerous,  pleasures  of  the  chase.  If  the  itch  of 
office  overcame  him,  and  he  would  a6t  for  the  protection 
of  the  friendly  and  valuable  creatures,  or  for  the  extermi- 
nation of  the  hostile  ones,  he  might,  as  deer  or  fish  reeve, 
or  in  some  similar  capacity,  as  forerunner  of  the  modern 
field-driver  or  hog-reeve,  assume  a  badge  of  dignity  among 
the  worthies  of  the  borough,  or  exercise  his  forensic  powers 
before  the  town  meeting  in  calling  aloud  to  arms,  to  arms — 
not  to  be  sure  against  a  human  foe,  but  against  another,  of 
which  some  of  us  learnt  in  the  early  Latin  exercise  '-'•  triste 
III f  us  stabulis.'^ 

As  to  the  roads  of  those  times,  what  were  they?  Struct- 
ures of  the  rudest  engineering,  and  hardly  better  than  to 
be  compared  with  the  paths  made  by  the  moose  in  the  win- 
ter's snow,  or  by  the  beaver  to  the  side  of  his  dam  ;  scarcely 
more  than  cow  or  sheep  paths  through  the  woods,  and  wan- 
dering over  hill  and  dale,  bog  and  plain,  in  the  strangest 
fashion.  Mails,  daily,  weekly,  or  even  monthly  there  were 
none  ;  though  messengers  on  horseback  with  saddle  bags, 
at  irreguhir  intervals  wide  apart,  sometimes  found  their 
way  over  the  rough  and  lonely  byways  j  and  penetrated 
from  settlement  to  settlement.  Newspapers  —  if  such  ex- 
isted of  any  but  the  most  diminutive  proportions  and  all  but 
utter  povertv  of  news  —  were  hardly  to  be  seen  even  in  the 
larger  towns ;  and  back  here  in  the  interior  settlements  must 
have  been  the  rarest  of  all  rare  birds.  [i\ppendix,  B] .  Very 
few  comparatively  —  in  the  times  we  are  adverting  to,  in 
1738  —  could  make  out  to  read,  fewer  sdll  to  write.  As 
the  saw  mill  driven  by  water  and  superseding  the  saw-pit 
and  hand  sawyer-labor,  was  coming  slowly  into  use,  dwell- 
ing houses  regularly  timbered,  boarded,  clapboarded  and 
shingled,  were  just  beginning  to  be  built — of  the  material 
so  abundantly  at  hand  ;  but  a  house  with  proper  casements 


and  with  windows  glazed  throughout  was  to  be  found  only 
in  the  larger  towns  and  among  the  richest  of  the  inhabitants. 
Franklin,  though  born,  was  not  as  yet  signalized  bv  chim- 
nies  that  would  carry  smoke  ;  nor  Rumford  to  be  reckoned 
among  the  household  gods  by  the  production  of  apparatus 
that  would  heat  apartments  throughout  in  cold  weather. 
The  parlor  of  a  New  England  house — if  any  such  apart- 
ment existed  —  presented  every  variety  of  temperature  from 
torrid  to  frigid,  and  as  to  its  chambers  they  were  but  little 
if  any  better  in  winter  time  than  ice-houses.  At  certain 
seasons  of  the  year  as  one  approached  any  house  of  the  pe- 
riod, he  would  hear  the  buzz  and  rattle  of  the  spinning 
wheel  or  the  loom ;  the  wife  with  her  assistants  spinning 
and  weaving  the  wool  and  the  flax  which  the  husband 
raised ;  and  both  they  and  their  children  clad  in  the  home- 
spun which  had  been  woven  either  at  their  own  home  or 
in  that  of  some  neighbor. 

Vehicles  for  domestic  use  were  hardly  known,  even  at  a 
much  later  period ;  and  when  Sunday  came,  both  husband 
and  wife  mounted  the  same  horse,  he  in  the  saddle,  she  on 
the  pillion  behind  him,  with  arm  lovingly  around  his  waist, 
rode  oft'  together  (some  four,  five,  six,  or  eight  miles  as  the 
case  might  be)  to  meeting  :  rode,  let  us  say,  from  what  is 
now  Hudson,  then  a  part  of  Bolton,  to  what  is  now  Lan- 
caster, Old  Common; — though  not  as  now,  remember,  by 
a  dire6l  road  through  the  centre  of  the  town  but  by  the 
"  Bay  road  "  as  it  was  then  and  years  afterwards  called,  a 
winding  path  which  carried  them  upon  Wattoquottoc  Hill. 
[Appendix,  C], 

And  as  to  the  churches  of  that  day  —  no  that  won't  do  — 
the  "meeting-houses,"  what  rude  stru6lures  they  were  I  how 
far  removed  from  the  luxurious,  painted,  carpeted, cushioned, 
warmed,  "dimly-religious  lighted"  stru6lures  to  which  we 
now  resort  I  oftentimes  without  plastering  on  the  inside, 
oftentimes  without  pews,  and  with  rough  hewn  boards  for 
seats,  frequently  used  for  shelter  by  the  passing  traveller, 


5 

or  by  the  cattle  when  exposed  to  the  violence  of  one  of  our 
autumnal  or  wintry  storms:  —  no  stoves  or  furnaces  for 
heating  —  the  winds  of  heaven  admitted  freely  through  rat- 
tlincf  windows,  and  manv  a  crack  and  crevice.  And  yet, 
for  all  that,  they  were  doubdess  as  much  "houses  of  God" 
and  "gates  of  heaven,"  and  furnished  as  friendly  a  "shadow 
of  a  rock  in  a  weary  land"  as  any  of  our  more  stately  and 
adorned  modern  edifices-;  and  what  was  wanting  in  the  tem- 
perature of  the  surrounding  air  was  made  up  in  the  warmth 
of  heart  found  within  the  bosoms  of  the  worshippers. 

Not  always  though,  as  truth  compels  the  caudous  and 
impardal  historian  to  add.  For  it  w^ould  sometimes  hap- 
pen then,  even  as  in  these  degenerate  dmes,  that  people 
would  fall  asleep,  during  the  services.  Paterfamilias,  over- 
come by  week-day  labors  in  the  haying-field,  or  wearied 
bv  his  exercises  on  hard-trotdng  Dobbin,  as  in  the  sharp 
winter's  air  he  rode  to  meeting  with  his  wife  on  the  pillion 
behind  him,  would  somedmes,  as  seventeenthly  or  nine- 
teenthly  was  under  discussion,  find  his  eyes  getting  heavy, 
and  —  sad  to  state  —  at  length  be  caught  napping,  it  might 
be  even  snoring.  Or  may  be,  exhausted  from  the  spinning 
wheel  or  the  loom,  and  from  being  up  nearly  all  night  be- 
fore with  little  Tommy  in  pangs  of  colic  from  having  eaten 
green  apples,  materfamilias  would  be  seen  with  her  head 
bobbino-  about  in  a  strano-e  fashion  from  side  to  side.  Or, 
perchance,  'foresaid  Tom,  on  the  sly,  in  concert  with  sister 
Pollv,  would  be  caught  catching  flies,  or  building  houses 
with  the  hymn-books — for  "boys  would  be  boys"  in  those 
days,  even  as  men  and  women  were  human  then  as  now  — 
well,  whenever  any  of  these  things  happened,  what  fol- 
lowed? The  oflTenders  brought  down  on  themselves  the 
rod  of  an  otficer,  called  a  tithing  man,  often  to  be  found  in 
meeting-houses  of  the  day,  an  officer  armed  with  fearful 
powers,  and  a  no  less  fearful  weapon  to  enforce  them,  to 
wit,  a  pole  or  wand  some  five  or  six  feet  in  length,  with 
which  in  feline  fashion  he  stole  about  the  house  from  seat 


to  seat,  arousing  one  here,  touching  up  another  there,  and 
careful  to  see  that  every  one  was  kept  attentive,  and  that 
the  preacher's  discourse  was  not  wasted  on  emptv  air  or 
drowsy  ears.  Another  of  his  functions  was  to  stop  travel- 
lers passing  on  the  highway  on  Sundays  and  question  them 
as  to  whether  they  were  journeying  on  works  of  necessity 
or  mercy  :  if  not,  to  detain  them  till  after  sundown,  or  till 
the  sabbath  was  considered  passed.      [Appendix,  D]. 

The  parson  of  those  times,  who  shall  worthily  describe 
him?  —  perhaps  the  greatest  man  of  all,  not  even  "the 
'Squire"  excepted, — with  his  awe-inspiring  wig,  and  no 
less  overwhelming  cocked  hat,  smalls,  and  cane  I  And 
the  Sunday  services,  too,  with  their  sermons  extending  to 
seventeenthlies  or  twentiethlies,  and  judged  of,  in  the  order 
of  merit,  largely  by  their  length  :  —  with  prayers  of  equally 
portentous  extent :  —  all  sat  and  stood  through  in  stove- 
less  houses  in  winter,  in  blindless  ones  in  summer.  Who 
shall  attempt  —  save  a  Mrs.  Stowe  —  to  portray  in  what 
spirit  of  martyrdom  and  long  suffering  they  were  endured  I 

Imagine  a  New  England  winter  as  it  was  one  hundred 
and  thirty-eight  or  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  ago  I  All 
that  should  go  into  the  picture  time  will  not  allow  me  so 
much  as  to  touch.  The  solitude,  the  utter  sequestration  of 
the  little  clearing  in  the  woods  I  the  arctic  cold  out  o'  doors, 
the  great  roaring  fire  of  logs  in  the  wide-throated  chimney 
within,  the  family  huddling  around  it,  protei^ted  from 
draughts  of  air  as  much  as  could  be  by  the  huge  settle  ; 
the  horses  and  cows  outside  the  house,  without  shelter 
trembling  in  the  keen  blast;  —  in  spring,  even  at  a  much- 
later  period  than  this,  when  barns  of  some  sort  were  pro- 
vided for  them,  so  weak  from  eating  poor  swale  hay  that 
they  could  not  lift  themselves  to  their  feet  without  help.  Im- 
agine the  feelings  of  the  housewife,  when  as  she  was  cooking 
her  noontide  meal,  or  in  the  early  dusk  preparing  the  sup- 
per for  her  husband  when  he  should  return  exhausted  from 
labors  in  the  woods,  she  saw  steal  in,  instead  of  him,  a  band 


of  drunken  Indians  ;  and  was  compelled,  in  terror  of  her 
life,  to  give  them  food,  or  to  minister  to  their  thirst  for  the 
dreadful  "  fire-water  *'  which  would  make  them  still  more 
utterly  savage  and  reckless  I  Imagine  this,  and  many  more 
particulars  by  which  this  general  sketch  might  be  extended, 
and  our  idea  of  the  times  made  more  complete  ;  but  I  must 
remember  what  is  before  us,  and  hasten  to  strike  into  that 
local  history  to  which  what  has  been  advanced  is  pre- 
paratory. 

In  general,  such  was  the  Massachusetts  of  1738  in  its 
more  retired  portions  ;  such  a  sketch  of  the  condition  of 
almost  any  one  of  her  small  towns ;  such  was  Bolton. 
Worcester  was  hardly  a  hamlet,  with  a  few  straggling 
houses  and  scarcely  no  trade  ;  and  Boston,  now  the  great 
metropolitan  city  of  all  New  England,  with  palatial  ware- 
houses and  numerous  lines  of  travel  and  modes  of  industry 
and  schools  of  art,  but  a  small  trading  village  so  far  re- 
moved from  the  ways  and  thoughts  of  the  great  world  as 
to  be  as  much  out  of  mind  as  it  was  out  of  sight  I  [Ap- 
pendix, E]. 

But  now  observe  one  most  important  aspect  of  affairs. 
Rough,  unsightly,  hardly  reclaimed  from  the  wilderness 
as  the  whole  country  was,  ignorant  as  the  people  in  many 
respects,  rude  as  were  their  lives,  one  lesson  was  being 
most  thoroughly  learned ;  learned,  doubtless,  as  it  has 
been  learned  by  no  other  people  on  the  face  of  the  earth  — 
the  lesson  namely  of  self-reliance,  of  self-government.  Of 
the  hardy  Anglo-Saxon  stock,  or  they  w^ould  not  have  been 
here  ;  deeply  imbued  in  the  religious  faith  in  its  severest 
form  of  their  old  home  in  England  ;  bringing  with  them 
across  the  seas  the  heroic  virtues  of  their  English  and  Pu- 
ritan ancestry,  but  cut  oft' by  a  wide  and  stormy  ocean  from 
all  intimate  connexion  with  the  "  mother  country  "  (or  the 
"y^M^r-land,"  as  now  in  German  fashion  we  have  learnt  to 
say)  ;  thrown  on  their  own  resources  ;  forced  by  circum- 
stances to  think,  to  att,  to  legislate  for  themselves;  —  our 


sturdy  forefathers  were  learning  in  the  school  of  hardship 
to  stand  alone,  beginning  to  throw  off  many  of  the  hamper- 
ing ways  of  worship  to  rank,  of  blind  observance  of  custom 
which  would  have  clung  to  them  doubtless  if  they  had  staid 
at  the  old  home  ;  learning  many  of  the  mysteries  of  that 
great  art  of  government  which  heretofore  was  supposed  to 
be  entrusted  to  the  hands  of  a  heaven-born  few  ;  and  to  be 
exercised  only  by  heads  which  had  received  a  special  unc- 
tion from  above.  Happy  then  the  wilds  which  brought 
them  this  favored  knowledge  I  Blessed  the  calamities,  the 
hardships,  the  rough  and  unattra6tive  lives  which  conveved 
to  them  and  their  descendants  the  glorious  revelation  from 
which  such  mighty  results  were  to  come. 

I  must  not  dwell  on  such  points  tempting  as  they  mav  be. 
Sufficient  if  we  observe  them  in  passing  :  I  must  come, 
without  delay,  to  what  more  particularly  concerns  us  as 
citizens  or  friends  of  this  particular  town. 

About  the  time  to  which  we  have  been  adverting,  about 
A.  D.  1738,  or  a  little  before,  the  inhabitants  of  the  East 
Precin6t  of  Lancaster  were  beginning  to  feel  that  the 
clothes  of  early  childhood  were  rather  too  tight  a  fit,  and 
could  be  patched  and  extended  no  more  ;  that  they  must 
have  an  entirely  new  suit ;  that  they  could  no  longer,  every 
first  day  of  the  week,  take  the  winding  "  Bay  road  "  over 
Wattoquottoc  hill  to  attend  meeting  on  Lancaster  Old  Com- 
mon (where  the  meeting-house  then  stood)  ;  —  so  they  com- 
menced the  movements  of  secession,  began  the  work  which 
Berlin  and  Hudson  afterwards  repeated  towards  Bolton. 
But  why  should  I  tell  the  story  for  them,  when  they  are  so 
well  able  to  tell  it  for  themselves?  Here,  then,  I  open 
their  record-book,  and  copy  portions  of  the  statements  I 
find  there.  Would  that  I  could  copy  them  in  a  hand-writ- 
ing as  splendid  as  that  of  Jacob  Houghton  their  first  town 
clerk  — a  hand-writing  which  if  it  were  reproduced  in  our 
modern  Houghton  School  in  competition  for  a  prize  would 
surely  carry  off  the  palm  I 


A  GRANT  OF  THE  TOWNSHIP  OF  BOLTON 


Whereas  the  Southeasterly  part  of  the  town  of  Lancaster,  is  compe- 
tently filled  with  inhabitants  who  labour  under  great  difficulty  by  reason 
they  live  very  remote  from  the  place  of  public  worship,  in  said  town  :  and 
having  addressed  this  court  that  they  may  be  set  oflF,  a  distinct  and  sepa- 
rate township,  whereunto  the  inhabitants  of  said  town  by  their  vote  have 
manifested  their  consent:  —  Be  it  therefore  enacted  by  his  Excellency  the 
Governour,  Council,  and  Representatives  in  General  Court  assembled  and 
by  the  authority  of  the  same,  — 

That  the  easterly  part  of  the  town  of  Lancaster  be  and  hereby  is  set  off 
from  said  town  of  Lancaster  and  erected  into  a  separate  and  distinct  town- 
ship by  the  name  of  Bolton  [Appendix,  F],  according  to  the  following 
boundaries,  viz  :  Northeasterly  upon  Harvard,  Easterly  upon  Stow,  South- 
easterly upon  Marlborough,  Southerly  upon  Westborough,  and  Westerly 
upon  Lancaster,  By  a  line  running  near  a  South  and  North  point  parallel 
with  the  West  line  of  said  township  of  Lancaster  at  four  miles  distance 
therefrom.  Agreeable  to  a  vote  of  the  said  town  passed  the  first  day  of 
March,  1735. 

And  that  the  inhabitants  thereof  be  and  hereby  are  vested  with  all  those 
powers,  privileges,  immunities  that  the  inhabitants  of  other  towns  within 
this  province  are  or  ought  by  law  to  be  vested  with. 

Provided  that  the  said  town  of  Bolton  shall  be  liable  and  subject  to  the 
payment  of  their  proportionable  part  of  the  town  of  Lancaster's  province 
tax,  and  County  tax  for  the  present  year,  as  though  they  were  not  by  this 
act  separated  from  it. 

In  the  House  of  Representatives  June  23rd,  1738. 

Ordered  that  Mr.  John  Whitney,  a  principal  inhabitant  of  a  new  town, 
lately  erected  out  of  the  town  of  Lancaster,  in  the  county  of  Worcester, 
be,  and  hereby  is,  fully  authorized  and  impowered,  to  assemble  the  Free- 
holders and  other  qualified  voters  there,  as  soon  as  may  be,  in  some  con- 
venient place  in  said  town,  in  order  for  their  choosing  a  Town  Clerk  and 
all  other  Town  Officers,  to  stand  till  the  Anniversary  Meeting  of  said  town 
in  March  next.  . 

Sent  up  for  concurrence, 

J.  OuiNXEV,  Speaker. 

In  council,  June  27,  173S,  Read  and  Concurred, 

J.  WiLLARD,  SecVy. 
Consented  to,  J.  Belcher, 

Copy  examined,  .  JosIah  Willard,  Secr'y. 

Per  order, 

Jacob  Houghton,  Town  Clerk. 


10 


August  14.  1738. 
I  have  executed  the  within  order  according  to  due  manner  and  form. 

John  Whitney. 
J'cr  order. 

Jacob  Houcjmton,  Clerk. 

BoLTOX,  Augu.st,  14th,  1738. 
The  inhabitants  of  said  town  being  met  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Thomas 
Sawyer  made  choice  of  James  Keves  to  be  their  Moderator. 

1.  Jacob  Houghton  was  chosen  Town  Clerk  and  Sworn. 

2.  They  voted  to  choose  five  Select  men. 

3.  They  chose,  Jacob  Houghton,  James  Keyes,  Henry  Houghton, 
John  Priest,  and  Capt.  Jonas  Houghton,  Select  men. 

4.  They  chose  David  Whitco.mb,  Constable  and  he  was  sworn. 

5.  They  chose  Josiah  Richardson,  and  William  Keyes,  Surveyors 

(in  the  original,  spelt,  Survairs,)  of  Highways,  and  they  were  sworn. 

James  Keyes,  Moderator. 
Per  order,  Jacob  Houghton,  Clerk. 

Having  now  got  our  ship  oft'  the  stocks  and  fairly 
launched  ;  or,  as  we  are  speaking  of  an  inland  town  —  in- 
asmuch as  we  have  harnessed  up  our  team,  oiled  the  wheels, 
taken  on  the  load,  and  started  for  the  journey  ;  —  remark- 
ing the  while,  what  a  long  stretch  of  road  lies  between  us 
and  the  terminus  of  our  travel,  we  see  it  will  not  do  to  em- 
ploy ox,  or  even  horse-power,  but  must  spring  into  a  sort 
of  locomotive  balloon,  or  some  other  flying  machine,  and 
skim  along  with  it  as  if,  high  upborne  in  air,  we  were  scud- 
ding with  the  clouds  over  the  face  of  a  continent.  As,  in 
the  brief  time  allowed  me  for  so  long  a  work,  to  men- 
tion names  or  describe  individuals  connec^ted  with  important 
proceedings,  or  at  any  rate  many  of  them,  will  be  out  of 
the  question  ;  or  to  verify  statements  by  giving  dates,  or 
making  extracts  from  the  books  will  be  equally  so,  I  shall 
not  often  make  the  attempt,  happy  if  I  can  but  so  much  as 
touch  the  more  significant  eras  and  events.     [Appendix  G] . 

Bolton,  then,  is  now  started  as  a  separate  township  ;  and 
after  its  primary  meeting  for  organization,  its  first  care  was 
to  set  about  building  a  meeting-house  (town  and  parish  in 
those  days  were  pretty  much  the  same  thing,  or,  in  other 


II 


words,  the  town  was  the  municipality  considered  in  its  civil 
and  political  aspet^t,  while  the  parish  was  the  same  munici- 
pality in  its  relations  with  religious  faith  and  ecclesiastical 
organization). 

It  would  take  much  more  time  than  vou  would  be  willinjj 
to  allow  to  attempt  anything  like  a  full  account  of  the  meet- 
ings, the  considerings,  the  reconsiderings,  the  votes,  the 
counter  votes,  to  which  the  movement  gave  rise.  Human 
nature  was  not  .so  different  then  from  what  it  is  today  ;  or 
from  what  it  was  in  the  great  Savior's  day  ;  nor  were  the 
town  meetings  of  one  hundred  and  thirty  years  ago  so  un- 
like those  of  A.  D.  1876 ;  nor  the  then  ^^oung  town  of 
Bolton  so  dissimilar  from  its  modern  distritft  of  No.  8,  as  it 
was  a  few  weeks  ago,  No.  2,  as  it  is  now  in  the  present 
year  of  grace.  It  is  enough  then  to  say,  that  while  on  the 
question  of  building  a  new  meeting-house  there  was  no  dis- 
pute, on  the  point  where  it  should  stand  there  was  much 
diversity  of  opinion  and  feeling ;  one  party  seeming  to 
think  that  only  on  this  mountain  —  this  little  knoll  —  could 
the  Father  be  worshipped,  while  another  party,  with  equal 
earnestness,  contended  that  solely  at  some  small  Jerusalem, 
a  trifle  nearer  liome,  ought  men  to  worship.  The  question 
was  purely  one  relating  to  locality,  and  had  no  reference 
whatever  to  matters  involving'  religious  do6trine  or  ob- 
servance. 

Human  strifes,  however,  like  all  other  things  human, 
must  have  an  end  ;  so  that  at  length  it  was  settled  where 
the  new  structure  should  be  placed,  viz.  :  just  this  side  of 
where  now  runs  (runs  so  that  all  may  read)  our  now  flour- 
ishing Lancaster  R.  R.  ;  just  this  side  of  where  quite 
recently  stood  our  old  school-house  No.  i,  where  now 
stands  the  picturesque  station-house  of  the  railroad  afore- 
said, so  much  admired  bv  all  travellers  to  and  from  the 
Tunnel.      [Appendix*,  H]. 

What  sort  of  a  house  it  was  may  be  inferred  from  one  or 
two  votes  having  reference  to  it,  or  discussions  concerning 


12 


1 


it  of  which  we  find  record.  Thus  from  time  to  time  com- 
mittees were  chosen  "to  seat  the  meeting-house,"  as  it  was 
called,  i.  e.,  to  assign  seats  where  different  lamilies  or  indi- 
viduals should  sit.  Need  I  add  that  this  was  most  difficult 
and  delicate  duty  to  perform  ;  and  that  the  heart-burnings. 
and  jealousies,  and  small  griefs  that  followed  were  legion, 
Mr.  A.  felt  that  his  velvet  smalls  should  not  have  been  as- 
signed to  that  knotty  pitch-pine  board;  Mrs.  B.,  the 
'squire's,  or  the  store-keeper's  wife,  that  her  last  new  linen 
dress,  fresh  from  England,  the  envy  and  admiration  of  the 
whole  town,  should  not  have  been  buried  in  obscurity 
under  the  gallery  stairs  ;  and  the  widow  C.  was  justly  indig- 
nant that  her  becoming  weeds  were  tucked  awav  on  a  back 
seat  where  they  would  be  completely  out  of  sight.  So  it 
happened  that  the  unhappy  committee  for  seating  the  house, 
after  performing  their  duty  could  sometimes  not  find  a  seat 
obscure  enough  nor  dark  enough  wherein  to  hide  their 
diminished  heads  :  but  had  to  "  take  it,"  as  the  boys  say, 
all  round.  "With  the  most  ardent  wishes  to  please  and 
endeavors  to  that  end,"  they  but  seldom  succeeded  ;  too 
often  makincr  the  sad  mistake  —  not  unknown  even  in  these 
virtuous  times  —  of  allowing  money  bags  to  preponderate 
over  everything  else,  while  a  thousand  other  little  vanities, 
male  and  female,  so  liable  to  beset  "poor  human  natur," 
weighed  in  the  balances  flew  up  highly,  and  kicked  the 
beam. 

Such  was  "seating  of  the  meetrncr-house, '  one  indication 
of  the  times.  Another  we  find  in  the  question,  which 
comes  up  in  town  meeting,  shall  the  meeting-house  be 
plastered  on  the  inside,  when  it  is  decided,  after  some  dis- 
cussion, that  it  shall  not  be  ;  and  many  years  after  that,  we 
get  perhaps  a  larger  glimpse  of  the  condition  of  things,  of 
the  occasions  which  awakened  the  interest  o^  neople,  when, 
on  the  eve  of  an  approaching  ordinailon,  a  committee  is 
appointed  in  town  meeting  to  shore  up  the  galleries  that 
they  may  be  able  to  withstand  the  great  weight  of  the 


13 

throng,  from  far  and  near,  within  the  compass  of  thirty 
miles  or  more,  which  it  is  expected  on  that  day  will  fill 
them. 

The  old  meetino:-house  to  which  these  remarks  have 
reference,  stood  (some  ninet}^  years  ago)  on  the  little 
knoll  just  this  side  of  the  railroad  crossing  on  the  Ber- 
lin road ;  but  at  length,  about  1790,  it  began  to  show 
signs  of  decay  and  insecurity  ;  and  the  town  too  began  to 
feel  ambitious  of  a  larger  and  more  sightly  stru61:ure.  We 
must  pass  the  time  with  barely  a  glance.  The  former  pro- 
cess is  repeated.  Articles  appear  in  the  town  warrants, 
shall  a  new  meeting-house  be  built  ?  and  the  question  is 
discussed  forth  and  back,  with  much  feeling,  and  no  little 
debate  is  stirred  up  as  to  whether  one  should  be  built  at  all, 
and  as  to  where  it  should  stand  when  built ;  till  at  length 
this  time  all  were  united  in  rather  a  novel  and  unexpected 
way.  On  a  certain  Sunday  afternoon  in  the  dog-days, 
when  the  minister  was  in  the  midst  of  his  afternoon's  ser- 
mon, and  the  drowsy  members  of  the  congregation  had 
composed  themselves  comfortably  to  their  several  naps,  a 
tempest  which  had  some  time  been  gathering  suddenly 
burst  forth  in  fury,  the  black  clouds  hung  low  overhead, 
the  storm  pelted,  the  lightning  flashed,  the  thunder 
growled,  and  a  powerful  gust  springing  up  at  the  same 
time,  so  that  "the  corners  of  the  house  were  shaken  as 
with  a  rushing  mighty  wind,"  the  timbers  of  the  edifice 
cracked  and  groaned  like  the  ribs  of  a  ship  when  strug- 
SfliniT  in  the  sea  and  buffetted  by  the  waves.  Women 
screamed  and  fainted,  and  men  and  boys,  glad  of  the 
chance,  scuttled  out  at  the  door. 

The  moral  efte6t  in  the  change  of  feeling,  in  the  recon- 
cilement of  discordant  views,  was  all  that  could  be  hoped 
for.  At  the  next  town  meeting,  a  vote  to  build  a  new 
house  was  procured  without  difiiculty,  and  thus  arose  the 
structure  in  which  we  are  now  assembled,  finished  and 
dedicated  in  1793  ;  remodelled  in  1844  ;  and  let  me  add  — 


H 

though  repaired  at  intervals  since  then,  and  its  whole  style 
changed,  never  re-shingled — nor  needing  it  from  that  day  to 
this.  A  commentary,  this  fact,  on  the  solid,  faithful  work 
of  those  times  —  a  commentary  no  less  sigrniticant  on  the 
character  of  the  contra6lors  and  builders. 

Wishing  not  to  mix  up  topics,  I  have  passed  bv  one,  an 
interesting  one,  having  an  important  bearing  on  the  future 
history  of  the  town,  in  order  to  give  it  such  place  by  itself 
as  time  will  allow.  The  settlement  of  a  minister,  a  matter 
of  far  more  grave  import  in  those  times  of  less  light  and 
knowledge,  but  deeper  religious  sentiment,  than  now ;  an 
event  preceded  by  examinations  and  fasts  and  other  observ- 
ances, and  enlisting  a  vastly  wider  range  of  sympathetic 
interest  than  a  modern  call  and  settlement.  It  is  a  topic 
too  large  for  an3'thing  like  proper  consideration  on  such  an 
occasion  as  today's,  and  not  suited  for  a  gathering  such  as 
brings  us  together.  I  take  it  up  in  its  local  aspe6l  exclu- 
sively, and  shall  pass  it  as  rapidly  as  I  can. 

Quite  as  important  as  should  they  build  a  meeting-house, 
was  the  question  should  the\'  settle  a  minister.  In  due 
time  —  after  having  its  appropriate  share  of  town  meetings, 
and  anxious  and  sometimes  heated  discussion,  to  saj'  noth- 
ing of  conferences  with  neighboring  ministers,  together 
with  fasts  and  so  on,  and  long  hearing  of  the  candidate  — 
the  question  appears  to  be  settled,  and  Rev.  Mr.  Thomas 
Goss  (they  could  hardly,  in  those  days,  give  the  minister 
too  many  verbal  manifestations  of  respedl,  or  too  much  su- 
gar in  his  tea)  was  invited  to  take  charge  of  the  Bolton 
church  and  parish.  But  this,  so  far  as  the  call  was  con- 
cerned, though  it  appears  to  be  the  end  of  the  matter,  was 
not  in  point  of  fact  the  conclusion.  Though  at  a  meeting 
held  Dec.  15,  1740,  the  town  had  chosen  Mr.  Thos.  Goss 
to  be  their  minister,  and  had  voted  that  "if  the  gentleman 
called  to  the  work  of  the  ministry  do  accept  the  call,  and 
upon  examination  b\-  the  ministers  of  the  gospel  do  appear 
to  be  orthodox  and  qualified  tor  the  pastoral  office,  then  to 


15 

have  the  sum  of  £380  in  old  tenour  settlement,  or  that  which 
is  equivalent  to  it"  [Appendix,  I],  and  though  it  had  been 
voted  at  the  same  meeting,  to  give  the  candidate  as  a 
"stated  sallery,  to  be  paid  yearly,  £170  in  bills  of  the  old 
tenour,  to  be  regulated  by  Indian  corn  at  8s.  per  bushel,  and 
Rie  at  los.  per  bu.,  and  Beef  at  6  pence  per  lb.,"  it 
seems,  nevertheless,  even  after  having  got  so  far,  the  people 
could  not  agree,  and  the  proceedings  of  the  meetings  just 
referred  to  were  set  aside  as  not  legal  ;  and  another  meet- 
ing was  held  on  the  3d  Feb.,  1741,  at  which  another  period 
of  probation  was  assigned  to  the  candidate  ;  and  it  was  de- 
cided on  to  hear  two  other  candidates,  viz.  :  Mr.  Belcher 
Handcock  and  Mr.  Ebenezer  Gay.  Meantime  Rev.  Mr. 
John  Prentice  of  Lancaster,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Israel  Loring  of 
Sudbury,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  John  Gardner  of  Stow  were 
called  in  for  advice  and  counsel.  The  story  is  a  long  and 
wearisome  one,  and  I  cut  it  as  short  as  possible.  After  ad- 
ditional proceedings,  mixed  up  with  other  affairs,  the  town 
got  so  far  again  on  May  19,  1741,  as  to  raise  the  sum  of 
£120  "for  a  minister's  rate,"  and  on  June  7th,  1741,  at  a 
town  meeting  then  held,  at  which  Mr.  Jacob  Houghton  was 
moderator,  it  was  put  to  vote  whether  "the  town  would 
choose  by  lott  for  a  minister."  It  passed  in  the  negative  ; 
and  then  it  was  voted  (I  quote  the  exait  w^ords)  "that  Mr. 
Thos.  Goss  should  be  the  minister  of  the  town  by  44  votes 
qualified  by  law."  £400  in  bills  of  old  tenour  were  then 
voted  to  him  for  his  "  encouragement  and  settlement ;"  and 
£180  in  bills  of  old  tenour  or  passable  bills  of  credit  for 
"stated  sallary."  Sept.  ist,  1741,  finds  the  town  again  in 
town  meeting  to  hear  Mr.  Thomas  Goss,  his  answer,  and 
for  other  business.  After  prayers,  the  business  proceeded, 
and  Mr.  Goss's  answer  was  read  and  put  on  file,  a  commit- 
tee chosen  to  wait  on  Mr.  Goss  to  "  know  his  mind,  when  he 
inclines  to  have  his  ordination,"  and  who  should  be  sent  for 
to  assist,  &c.,  &c. 

It  is  to  be  presumed  that  Rev.  Mr.  Goss  knew  his  mind 


i6 


after  these  long  delays,  and  that  the  ordination  was  held  in 
due  form  and  observance,  with  the  usual  accompaniments! 
of   feasting  and    (truth   compels  me  to  add)    of  drinking 
which  belonged  to  the   times ;  but    I    find   no   account  of 
them. 

At  a  town  meeting  held  March  2d,  1742,  establishing  a 
school  for  the  whole  town  near  the  meeting-house  ;  thank- 
ing Capt.  Osburn  for  what  he  had  been  pleased  to  do  for 
the  town  ;  other  votes  not  to  plaster  the  meeting-house,  and 
to  choose  a  committee  to  divide  the  pew  ground  and  seat 
the  meeting-house  ;  and  to  accept  and  allow  certain  ac- 
counts for  providing  for  the  ordination,  we  may  consider  it 
passed  at  that  time,  and  that  the  minister  has  duly  entered 
on  his  course  and' engaged  in  his  work. 

Years  roll  on,  the  seasons  come  and  go  ;  spring-time  af- 
ter spring-time  sees  the  leaves  form,  and  the  blossoms 
diffuse  their  fragrance  on  the  air,  and  harvest  after  harvest 
gathered  ;  these  are  years,  to  appearance,  of  prosperity  ; 
new  households  are  formed  ;  children  are  born  and  die  ; 
and  many  others,  after  a  protracted  sojourn,  and  lives 
more  or  less  useful,  go  to  their  long  home  —  and  where 
were  they?  We  take  just  a  hasty  general  glance,  as  the 
view  dissolves  before  our  eyes  ;  and  we  pass  on  to  some- 
thing else. 

Imagine  much  said  that  has  not  been  said,  and  told  that 
has  not  been  told ;  imagine  some  thirty  years  or  so 
passed  over,  and  that  we  are  now  in  A.  D.  1770.  [Appen- 
dix, J].  A  very  great  change  has  come  over  their  dream 
in  this  town  and  every  town  throughout  the  land  —  in  New 
England  and  in  all  the  original  colonies..  Though  they 
know  it  not,  they  are  in  the  birth-throes  of  a  nation  ;  they 
are  preparing  to  drop  —  ripe  or  unripe  —  from  the  parent 
stem.  The  deeper  woes  of  unhappy  Boston  have  begun, 
her  committee  of  correspondence  are  in  communication 
with  sister  towns  throughout  the  province  and  country  ; 
and  they,  for  the  most  part,  are  in  earnest  sympathy  with 
her. 


17 

In  the  endeavor  to  keep  topics  distinct,  and  disentangled 
from  political  questions  and  agitations,  however  much 
mixed  up  as  for  years  and  3ears  afterwards  they  were 
in  point  of  fait,  I  shall  for  a  moment  continue  on  this 
purely  local  affair,  till  it  can  properly  be  dismissed.  In 
the  town  records  many  a  page  is  given  to  it.  I  desire  to 
dispose  of  it  in  as  many  lines. 

"  Patriot "  and  "  Tory  "  were  not  then  recognized  as  dis- 
tin6t  terms,  as  they  were  afterwards,  nor  were  persons  so 
designated  arrayed  the  one  against  the  other.  But  the  dis- 
turbances, the  feelings,  the  political  events  had  begun  out 
of  which  were  evolved  the  two  great  parties  which  after- 
w^ards  might  be  distinguished  by  those  words. 

The  minister  whose  coming  was  prepared  for  with  so 
much  elaboration,  with  such  taking  of  counsel,  with  prayers 
and  fastings,  and  who  was  received  with  such  large  cordi- 
ality, had  lost  his  hold  upon  the  good  will  and  support  of 
most  of  his  people  ;  lost  it,  said  his  enemies,  because  the 
spiritual  influence  by  which  he  was  moved  was  supposed 
to  come  more  from  the  still  than  from  the  heavenly  spheres  ; 
lost  it,  said  his  friends,  because  the  views  he  took  and 
maintained  of  ministerial,  as  well  as  of  royal,  prerogative, 
were  entirely  unsuited  to  the  temper  of  the  times,  and  the 
great  movement  which  w^as  everywhere  in  the  air.  What 
measure  of  truth  they  either  of  them  had  in  the  allegations 
made  on  either  side,  we  will  jiot  now  take  upon  us  to  de- 
cide. Sufficient  to  say  the  minister  was  jealously  watched  ; 
occasions  of  offence  and  stones  of  stumbling,  and  enough 
of  them,  were  speedily  discovered  (as  at  such  times  they 
generally  are)  ;  and  then  commenced  a  quarrel  and  a  con- 
troversy which  lasted  for  years,  and  left  its  impress  on  the 
affairs  of  the  town,  on  the  generations  born  and  to  be  born. 
Meeting  after  meeting  was  held,  council  after  council 
called  (five  in  all),  pamphlet  written  in  answer  to  pamphlet, 
lawsuits  instituted,  committees  chosen  to  defend,  moneys 
to  pay  expenses  voted  ;  feelings  became  deeply  embittered, 


i8 


I 


fathers  against  sons,  mothers-in-law  against  daughters-in- 
law,  families  separated  from  families.  But  after  a  while 
the  dismission  of  the  minister,  so  obnoxious  to  a  majority 
of  the  society,  is  procured,  and  another  minister,  Rev.  John 
Walley,  duly  installed  in  his  place.  This  event,  so  far 
from  pouring  oil  on  the  troubled  waters,  rather  stirred  them 
to  redoubled  commotion.  The  town  is  divided  now>  not 
only  into  Whig  and  Tory,  but  into  Gossites  and  Walley- 
ites.  The  latter  hold  the  church,  have  preaching  there, 
and  consider  themselves  the  legal  parish  ;  while  the  former 

—  the  Gossites  —  adhering  to  the  old  minister,  meet  at  a 
private  house  —  that  now^  occupied  b}'  the   Holman  family 

—  and  have  preaching  there.  From  1770  to  1782,  along- 
side with  political  affairs,  mixed  up  with  them  continuallv, 
cropping  out  every  now  and  then,  in  the  most  unexpeiited 
manner,  when  one  might  suppose  it  all  over,  the  contest 
continued,  like  an  active  volcano  pouring  forth  its  cloud  of 
smoke  and  rolling  down  its  floods  of  lava ;  and,  as  a  half 
extin(!:t  volcano,  it  continued  to  burn  till  1782,  when  Mr. 
Goss  is  dead,  and  Mr.  Walley  has  taken  a  dismission,  left 
the  town,  and  removed  to  Roxbury,  the  home  of  his  familv. 

The  effects  of  this  controversy,  which  for  the  day  of  it 
was  one  of  the  most  important  in  New  England,  were  long 
felt,  not  only  here  in  this,  but  in  all  the  neighboring  towns. 
Time  allows  only  this  general  sketch. 
•  When  Mr.  Goss  died,  his  friends,  among  whom  were  the 
neighboring  ministers,  almost  to  a  man,  erected  to  his  mem- 
ory a  monument,  still  standing  in  our  South  burying-ground, 
inscribed  in  classical  Latin  and  laudatory  terms,  with  their 
sense  of  "  the  many  virtues  both  private  and  public  "  with 
which  they  supposed  him  "adorned."  When  Mr.  Walley 
died  at  Roxbury,  a  little  while  afterwards,  he  left  to  the 
Bolton  parish  to  which  he  had  ministered  a  small  legacy, 
the  good  effects  of  which  we  still  receive  in  Bibles,  and 
other  good  books,  throw^ing  light  on  the  sacred  word.  The 
divided  sections  of  the  town,  the  Gossites  and  the  Walley- 


19 

ites,  came  together  again,  signed  their  old  covenant,  and 
became  anew  one  church  and  society.  With  the  general 
cessation  from  strite  in  the  country  at  large,  came  the  local. 
Discord  had  done  its  work  ;  and  now  Peace  reigned  in  her 
stead  ;  but  not  until  a  plentiful  harvest  had  been  gathered 
from  the  dragon's  teeth.  Happy  if  the  growth  from  that 
thistle  seed  then  sown  in  Bolton  soil  has  been  wholly  extir- 
pated since  !      [Appendix,  K]. 

As  has  been  stated,  matters  pertaining  to  the  political 
movements  of  the  period  are  curiously  blended  with  the 
Goss  controversy  ;  and  one  unacquainted  with  subsequent 
history,  and  taking  his  ideas  from  the  Bolton  books,  would 
often  be  sadly  puzzled  to  tell  which  of  the  two  were  the 
more  important. 

That  Bolton  was  strongly  on  the  patriotic  side  we  find 
the  evidence  conclusive  ;  that  she  early  mingled  in  the  fray 
we  find  evidence  just  as  conclusive  ;  but  who  of  her  sons 
actually  armed  for  the  conflict  and  went  to  the  front  is  more 
difficult  to  discover.  [Appendix,  L].  As  a  general  thing 
careful  lists  do  not  appear  to  have  been  kept  in  those  days  ; 

idone  seaiH:hing  our  books  is  able  to  find  nowhere  a 
record  of  those  who  served  in  the  army.  An  approximate 
list  of  that  description  —  if  ever  made  —  will  have  to  be  re- 
covered as  it  can  be  from  family  traditions,  and  such  other 
methods  as  may  be  open.      [Appendix,  L]. 

The  first  local  indication  of  the  great  storm  which  was 
soon  to  spread  over  an  entire  cosmic  hemisphere,  and  bury 
in  gloom  a  continent,  we  find  in  such  record  as  the  follow- 
ing :  "  The  freeholders  and  other  inhabitants  of  the  town 
of  Bolton  are  required,  in  his  Majesty's  nam2,  to  meet  at 
the  meeting-house  on  Monday,  21st  of  May,  1770,"  to  see 
(among  other  questions,  one  of  which  relates  to  the  Goss 
difficulties)  whether  they  will  "abstain  from  tea  and  other 
British  Goods  imported  contrary  to  the  agreement  cf  the 
merchants  of  the  town  of  Boston  ;  and  to  pass  such  vote 
or  votes  rel.  thereto  as  the  town  shall  think  proper."' 


n 


20 


Accordingly,  when  at  the  date  mentioned  a  town  meeting 
was  held,  John  Whitcomb,  Esq.,  moderator,  and  on  the 
second  article  the  vote  was  put,  "  would  thev  abstain  from 
tea  and  other  British  Goods?"  it  passed  in  the  affirmative 
very  unanimously;  and  Mr.  Caleb  Richardson,  Col.  John 
Whitcomb  and  Capt.  Samuel  Nourse  were  chosen  a  com- 
mittee to  prepare  a  written  vote  to  that  effect  —  doubtless  to 
be  transmitted  to  Boston.  Their  written  vote  reads  :  Voted, 
"  We  highly  approve  of  the  conduct  of  the  merchants  of 
the  town  of  Boston  respecting  the  non-importation  of  Brit- 
ish Goods  ;  that  we  will  none  of  us,  under  anv  pretence 
whatsoever,  purchase  one  single  article  (except  in  a  case 
of  absolute  necessity)  of  any  merchant  or  trader  that  has 
imported  goods  contrary  to  the  agreement  of  the  merchants 
of  the  town  of  Boston  ;  and  that  we  shall  esteem  such  pur- 
chasers enemies  of  their  cotmtry,  and  not  tit  to  be  employed 
in  any  business  of  importance.  Voted,  further,  that  we 
will  abstain  from  the  use  of  all  foreign  teas  ourselves,  and 
that  we  will  not  suffer  it  to  be  used  in  our  families,  until  the 
whole  of  the  late  revenue  a6ts  are  repealed.  Voted, 
fourthly,  that  we  will  use  our  utmost  endeavors  to  promote 
industry ,  frugality,  and  our  own  manufa(!;tures  as  the  most 
likely  means  to  save  our  country  from  slavery,  and  secure 
a  lasting  inheritence  to  our  posterity." 

There  is  more  to  the  same  highly  interesting  effect.  The 
ball  is  now  fairly  set  a-rolling,  and  blow  after  blow  is  given 
to  it  by  the  sturdy  players,  till  the  game  is  brought  to  its 
most  exciting  stage ;  and  long  before  they  were  fully 
aware  of  the  real  significance  of  their  a6ts  and  of  what 
they  were  about,  they  found  themselves  plunged  into  the 
fearful  contest  with  the  mother  country,  and  engaged  in 
the  tremendous  struggle  to  become  a  free  and  independent 
people. 

The  votes  just  quoted,  you  observe,  were  passed  in  1770. 
Allow  four  vears  more  to  pass,  and  we  find  the  town  in 
town  meeting  assembled  ngain  in  ac^tion  relative  to  essen- 


21 

tially  the  same  or  similar  matters.  This  time  a  more  formal 
report  is  to  be  made  and  a  more  elaborate  document  pre- 
pared, and  Mr.  Caleb  Richardson,  Col.  John  Whitcomb, 
Capt.  Samuel  Baker.  Capt.  Samuel  Nourse,  and  Mr. 
Joshua  Johnson  are  the  committee  to  prepare  it ;  two  of 
them,  however, —  Capt.  Samuel  Nourse  and  Mr.  Joshua 
Johnson  —  do  not  sign  it.  The  date  is  March  7th,  1774  — 
a  litde  more  than  a  year  before  the  battle  of  Lexington  and 
Concord.  It  is  quite  a  studied  argument  in  justification  of 
the  movements  and  opinions  of  the  times,  in  short  a  sort  of 
forerunner  of  the  immortal  declaradon,  written  evidently 
with  painstaking,  and  occupies  three  or  four  pages  of 
foolscap  size  in  a  small  hand.  To  quote  any  considerable 
portion  of  it  is  of  course  out  of  the  question.  A  single 
passage  of  a  few  lines  will  give  the  flavor  of  the  whole  :  — 
"As  to  the  assertions  advanced  (it  goes  on  to  say),  that 
upon  the  Provincial  Plan  of  taxation  there  would  be  ^Inipc- 
rium  in  Inipcn'o,'  a  Supreme  Government  within  a  Supreme 
Government,  we  think  is  not  stating  the  fa6t  right ;  we 
always  acknowledging  the  authority  of  the  British  Parlia- 
ment (without  being  involved  in  them)  within  their  just 
limits,  and  suppose  they  have  full  right  and  power  (without 
us)  to  lay  a  tax  of  los.  (or  any  other  sum)  on  every  lb.  of 
tea  before  it  goes  over  the  capstian  of  any  wharf  in  England 
for  exportation,  and  the  purchaser  being  there  —  where 
such  law  takes  etletlrt  —  must  submit  to  it.  But  we  humbly 
conceive  there  ma}'  be  Imfcriiini  -prctcr  Iniperium, 
government  besides  and  distinct  from  another,  if  said  gov- 
ernment respett  different  places  and  constitudons,  although 
one  of  the  same  Branch  (Sovereign  meant)  be  at  the  head 
of  both  Constitutions  ;" — and  so  on  and  so  forth  much  far- 
ther. As  to  tea's  going  over  the  capstan  of  a  wharf  in 
England  or  anywhere  else,  we  suppose  any  seafaring  per- 
son in  the  audience  would  see  the  difiiculty  and  needless- 
ness  of  that  operation  ;  but  we  let  that  pass. 

We  cannot  follow  the  local  history  along  step  by  step  ; 


22 

there  is  too  much  oi  it.  We  will  but  state  that  we  find 
notes  like  these,  viz.  :  one  that  "the  selectmen  be  impow-  ^ 
ered  to  colle(!:t,  procure  and  transmit  to  our  friends  of 
this  town  in  the  army,  such  provision  as  thev  shall  find 
necessary;*'  another,  that  the  "town  approves  of  the 
proceedings  of  the  selectmen  in  their  furnishing  non-com- 
missioned officers  and  soldiers  with  blankets ;"'  a  third, 
instru(^ting  the  constables  "  to  pay  the  rates  in  their  hands 
(in  other  words,  funds  from  the  collection  of  taxes),  not  to 
Harrison  Gray.  Esq.,  the  old  treasurer  under  the  roval 
government,  but  to  Henry  Gardner.  Esq.,  treasurer  under 
the  new  regime. 

Time  rolls  on,  months  pass,  and  a  little  more  than  a  year 
after  the  a6tion  of  the  town  last  referred  to,  the  British 
expedition  moves  out  from  Boston,  and  the  continuous  bat- 
tle of  Lexington  and  Concord  is  fought,  April  19th,  1775. 
Whether  any  Bolton  men  were  in  it  or  not,  I  have  never 
learnt.  Certain  it  is,  no  Bolton  company  was  there.  The 
late  John  Barnard  of  Dorchester,  son  of  the  Dr.  Barnard 
(who  as  a  zealous  adherent  of  Mr.  Goss  and  espousing  the 
unpopular  side  in  the  politics  of  the  period  then  and  somi 
time  afterward  figured  in  our  annals),  was  then  living  in 
town,  a  boy  in  his  father's  family,  born  on  the  spot  where 
m}'  own  residence  now  is.  He  died  not  many  years  ago.  I 
was  well  acquainted  with  him.  He  once  or  twice  men- 
tioned to  me  his  reminiscences  of  that  eventful  day.  How 
he  was  gathering  fire-wood  at  the  foot  of  a  rock  in  a  neigh- 
boring pasture,  how  he  heard  the  clatter  of  the  horse's 
hoofs,  as  a  messenger  galloped  into  town  sliouting  an  alarm, 
how  on  hearing  the  outer v  which  this  occasioned,  he  left 
his  work  and  rushed  down  into  the  street  to  ascertain  the 
cause  ;  and  that  he  saw  much  of  the  arming  and  equipping 
and  hurrvincr  awav  which  followed.  There  were  other 
reminiscences  of  the  day.  The  late  Oliver  Nourse,  who 
died  among  us,  a  very  old  man,  in  1855,  father  of  our  re- 
spected lellow-cin^en,  David  J.  Nourse,  once,  punningly. 


23 


told  me  he  had  one  reminiscence  of  the  day  he  could  not 
very  easily  lose  sight  of,  viz.  :  that  on  the  morning  in  ques- 
tion, by  an  accident  in  the  wood-shed,  he  hurt  the  sight  of 
one  of  his  eyes  —  an  accident  he  bore  the  marks  of  as  long 
as  he  lived. 

We  are  now  brought  down  to  the  year  1776,  the  year  the 
centennial  of  which  we  particularly  celebrate,  the  year  of 
the  Immortal  Declaration.  In  fair  and  readable,  but 
not  particularly  handsome  writing  it  is  recorded  on  the  town 
records.  Without  introduction  of  any  sort,  in  the  midst  of 
other  matters  of  petty  concernment  relating  to  the  locality, 
on  the  stained  and  decaying  page  dropping  to  pieces  with 
age,  there  it  stands ;  but  as  impressive  in  its  homely  guise, 
as  big  with  fate,  as  rich  in  thought,  as  grand  in  its  simple 
but  elegant  phrase,  as  if  inscribed  in  the  Capitol  of  the 
Nation  on  tablets  of  shining  brass,  or,  on  the  field  of  some 
eventful  struggle,  on  a  monument  towering  to  the  skies. 
Who  can  read  the  Declaration  and  not  feel  the  weight 
and  solemnity  of  its  powerful  di(^tion,  and  the  force  with 
which  it  announces  truths  once  new  and  startling,  but 
which  are  now  the  accepted  and  cherished  principles  of  all 
large  and  emancipated  souls  throughout  the  world.  Who 
can  hear  it  read,  familiar  as  it  is,  in  every  school-book,  and 
not  be  thrilled  thi-ough  and  through  with  patriotic  enthusi- 
asm, and  stirred  to  new  ardor  for  the  rights  of  man  I 

In  those  days  of  provincial  feeling,  when  even  the  most 
daring  minds  scarcely  ventured  to  contemplate  so  gfeat  a"" 
thought  as  that  of  separation  from  Great  Britain,  and  an 
independent  national  existence  for  these  remote  colonies  ; 
when  so  many  everywhere  —  so  many  of  the  heretofore 
respe(5ted  and  respe6table  citizens  of  this  town  —  shrunk  in 
utter  dismay  before  the  prospect  of  a  conflict  in  arms  with 
the  mother  country,  how  must  that  declaration  have 
fallen  like  a  meteor  from  the  skies  into  these  quiet  and 
secluded  shades  I  I  think  I  can  almost  see  the  trembling 
hands  and  the  agitated  face  of  the  transcriber  as  he  trans- 


i 


H 

fers  the  sentences  that  shine  like  gold,  but  cut  like  steel, 
to  his  books.  I  think  I  see  the  fathers  oi"  the  town,  with 
anxious  gaze  and  'bated  breath  gathering  round  to  watch 
him  as  he  writes.  (In  those  days  it  was  much  more  a 
work  of  time  to  do  so  much  writing  than  now,  and  the 
copying,  very  possibly,  took  weeks  for  its  accomplishment.) 
The  copyists,  how  they  look  over  their  shoulders  in  sus- 
picion and  alarm,  as  if  plotting  some  piece  of  outrageous 
mischief,  if  any  one  approaches  ;  how  the  book  is  closed 
in  haste  and  trepidation  if  any  stranger  comes  too  near; 
how  the  book  for  many  a  long  day  afterward  is  hidden 
away  with  extra  care,  and  guarded  with  redoubled  vigi- 
lance I 

Copies  of  the  document  had  been  forwarded,  without 
doubt  (after  being  passed  upon  in  Congress),  to  all  the 
Massachusetts  towns.  On  the  books  of  Bolton  we  find  the 
following  record  immediately  following  the  declaration, 
signed  by  the  names  of  John  Hancock,  president :  Charles 
Thompson,  secretary.  Then  as  follows  : — '"Ordered,  that 
the  Declaration  of  Independence  be  printed,  and  a  copy 
sent  to  the  ministers  of  each  parish  of  every  denomination, 
and  that  they  severally  be  required  to  read  the  same  to 
their  respe6live  congregations  as  soon  as  divine  service  is 
ended  in  the  afternoon,  on  the  first  Lord's  Day  after  they 
shall  have  received  it ;  and  after  such  publication  thereof, 
to  deliver  the  said  Declaration  to  the  Clerks  of  their 
several  towns,  or  districts,  who  arc  hereby  required  to 
record  the  same  in  their  respective  town,  or  district,  book, 
there  to  remain  as  a  perpetual  memorial." 

There  it  has  remained,  on  the  books  of  this  town,  a- 
"perpetual  memorial,""  until  this  Centennial  year  of  grace, 
1876  ;  but  there  it  cannot  much  longer  remain  unless  some- 
thing be  done  to  make  more  secure  its  preservation. 

I  find  nothing  more  of  special  interest  relating  to  the 
events  of  the  time  excepting  what  has  already  been  recited. 
The  war  went  on.  through  all  its  varying  phases,  the  sons 


^5 

of  Bolton,  like  other  men  good  and  true  elsewhere,  shed 
their  blood  in  it ;  its  evils  \yere  felt  here  in  care,  distress, 
impoverishment,  as  in  other  towns  ;  scenes  of  violence  and 
riot  were  enacted,  as  citizens  of  opposing  fa6tions,  with 
passions  heated,  met  each  other;  till  at  length  —  the  long 
and  almost  utterly  exhausting  struggle  over  —  peace,  smil- 
ing peace,  was  once  more  restored  ;  and  here,  as  elsewhere, 
people  settled  down,  with  all  their  political  relations 
changed,  in  circumstances  of  uncertainty,  gloom  and  much 
doubt  to  the  new  order  of  things. 

I  must  overleap  a  period  of  something  like  forty  or  fifty 
years.  Commerce,  meantime,  has  spread  her  ample  wings, 
though  she  has  not. as  yet  developed  the  new  and  gigantic 
power  which  has  recently  come  into  existence.  Other 
marvellous  changes  have  been  made,  wonderful  discoveries 
in  the  arts  and  sciences  are  adopted  ;  steam  is  introduced 
for  travel  on  the  land,  and  to  a  more  limited  extent  on  the 
water  ;  other  improved  methods  of  transportation  have  been 
in  use  some  time;  the  post  office  and  the  cheap  postage 
system  is  thoroughly  established  and  becomes  one  of  our 
most  important  and  leading  institutions  ;  newsDapers  are 
become  a  necessity  of  life  ;  the  whole  art  of  Jiving  shows 
a  great  advance  ;  in  short,  a  new  era  has  dawned,  and 
made  a  considerable  advance  towards  even  its  perfe6t  day. 

Political  changes,  quite  as  great  as  have  taken  place 
among  us,  have  occurred  in  other  realms  and  nationalities. 
With  us,  an  ele6tive  President  has  taken  the  place  of  an 
hereditary  King.  DistinAions  of  rank  are  abolished,  and 
though  the  features  of  the  landscape  may  be  the  same  as 
they  were  before,  the  whole  order  of  society  has  been 
almost  altogether  reconstructed.  The  story  has  been  often 
told  and  is  familiar  to  us  all.  I  shall  not  repeat  it.  Time 
compels  to  a  rapid  resume  of  some  of  the  leading  events  of 
this  intervening  period.  The  purely  local  ones  are  those 
only  I  shall  notice,  till  once  more  we  strike  down  for  a  mo- 
mentarv  pause,  for  a  few  words,  before  we  close,  relative  to 
our  recent  war  of  1861-65 . 


26 


Bolton,  at  the  close  of  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  was 
doubtless,  relatively,  more  of  a  town  than  now.  In  common 
with  other  Massachusetts  agricultural  towns,  it  has  under- 
gone a  process  of  dwindling  and  diminution,  the  causes  of 
which  we  cannot  stop  to  explain.  As  yet  Hudson  was  not, 
nor  for  many  and  many  a  year  afterwards ;  Clinton  was 
not ;  Fitchburg,  though  existing  as  a  township,  was  of  no 
importance,  but  like  any  other  of  our  small  country  towns  ; 
Berlin  was  a  part  of  Bolton  (its  south  precin6l,  though  in 
some  respects  almost  independent  of  Bolton  even  then)  ; 
and  Lancaster,  the  mother  town,  was  much  nearer  on  the 
same  level  with  her  daughter  towns  than  at  present.  I 
might  go  on,  but  must  not  dwell  where  so  much  else  is  to 
be  said.      [Appendix,  M]. 

It  becomes  discovered,  as  the  country  is  explored  and  its 
resources  developed,  its  capabilities  more  exa6tly  ascer- 
tained, that  some  of  the  great  roads  to  parts  of  this  and 
contiguous  states,  must  be  laid  through  this  region  where 
we  dwell.  These  roads  are  constructed,  inns  and  taverns 
spring  up  all  along  the  line  ;  a  great  inland  trade  in  cattle, 
sheep,  horses  and  swine,  wooden  ware,  furniture  and  other 
goods  is  developed,  and  for  a  season,  much  prosperity, 
depending  on  this  trade,  is  enjoyed  along  the  route.  Im- 
mediately among  ourselves  some  new  kinds  of  business  are 
introduced,  the  comb  manufacture  from  horn,  the  lime  kiln 
at  the  east  part,  which  for  many  years  supplied  all  the 
neighboring  region  with  its  lime.  But  with  the  introduc- 
tion of  railroads,  and  the  opening  of  new  lines  of  travel, 
nearly  all  this  prosperity  was  turned  away  from  us.  and 
bestowed  elsewhere. 

Meantime,  too,  let  us  not  fail  to  notice,  with  the  intro- 
duction of  Whitney's  cotton  gin  into  the  South,  leading  to 
such  marvellous  and  unlooked  tor  results,  socially  and 
politically,  the  manufacture  of  another  kind  of  gin,  with 
kindred  fluids,  becomes  much  extended  in  New  England, 
and  other  parts  of  the  country  :  and  the  danger  is  becom- 


27 

ing  every  day  more  imminent  that  this  nation  of  freemen 
will  become  a  nation  of  drunkards  ;  and  the  perception  of 
this  danger,  and  the  dread  of  it,  leads  to  one  of  the  great- 
est and  most  magnilicent  moral  reforms  the  world  has  ever 
seen  ;  but,  like  storms  in  the  natural  world,  it  is  accom- 
panied with  terrible  convulsions,  and  while  the  general 
result  is  far  extended  and  deep  planted  good  for  the  whole, 
the  partial  result  is  often,  for  individuals,  suffering  and  loss. 

Recalling  to  your  recollection  what  was  said  in  the 
earlier  part  of  this  address  relative  to  controversies  and 
troubles  which  had  arisen  between  minister  and  people, 
and  changes  which  had  occurred,  brought  about  by  the 
march  of  events  and  the  great  political  convulsion  which 
had  been  passed  through  ;  let  us  look  around  us,  and  see 
where  we  are  at  about  A.  D.  1825,  or  a  little  before,  or  a 
little  after.  In  1780,  Mr.  Goss,  the  first  minister,  died; 
and  with  him  died,  as  a  separate  organization,  the  little  body 
of  his  "  adherents."  Mr.  Walley,  his  successor,  considered 
by  most  the  legal  minister  of  the  town,  soon  afterwards 
took  a  dismission  ,•  and  in  1782  the  two  divided  portions 
reunited,  and  formed  anew  one  church  and  society.  Rev. 
Phineas  Wright,  a  native  of  Westford,  was  the  next  minis- 
ter, remaining  at  his  post  some  fifteen  or  twenty  years,  and 
after  a  quiet,  and  on  the  whole,  prosperous  service,  dying 
here  while  still  minister  of  the  parish.  He  was  followed 
by  Rev.  Isaac  Allen,  from  Weston,  good  old  man,  tather 
indeed  in  the  spirit  if  not  in  the  flesh,  who  also  lived  and 
died  among  you,  remaining  forty  years,  through  a  period 
which  many  of  you  freshly  remember,  but  of  which  we 
cannot  now  pause  to  speak  more  particularly.  [Appen- 
dix, N], 

We  pass  on  to  say  that,  about  A.  D.  1826  or  '7,  a  new 
religious  society,  claiming  to  hold  more  closely  to  the  faith 
of  the  Fathers,  was  formed,  under  the  special  auspices  of 
the  late  S.  V.  S.  Wilder,  an  influential  and  wealthy  citi- 
zen, who  then,  and  years  before  and  after,  lived  amono;  us. 


2^ 


exercising  a  princely  hospitality,  and  who  entertained  at 
his  elegant  abode  the  beloved  La  Fayette  when  on  his  visit, 
about  that  time,  to  the  United  States.  Mainlv  bv  the 
instrumentality  of  our  fellow-citizen  just  referred  to,  a  spa- 
cious and  handsome  church  was  built  on  the  hill-side 
within  his  estate,  near  the  Lancaster  line,  a  congregation 
of  goodly  size  from  this  and  neighboring  towns  gathered, 
and  a  succession  of  pastors  settled.  Customs  and  usages 
changing,  however,  with  advancing  time,  its  members, 
finding  the  arrangement  inconvenient  and  dispersing  into 
other  congregations  nearer  home,  the  enterprise  was  aban- 
doned, and  for  several  years  —  forsaken,  dismantled,  and 
appropriated  to  other  uses  —  its  edifice  has  stood,  like  one 
of  the  romantic  ruins  of  the  old  world,  a  monument  of 
that  vicissitude  which  belontrs  to  all  thinijs  human.  One 
of  its  respei!:ted  pastors,  whom  many  rejoice  to  see  in  our 
assemblies  once  more,  is  with  us  at  this  time,  and  will 
participate  in  the  observances  of  the  dav  ere  thev  close. 
[Appendix,  O]. 

In  1832  the  Baptists,  who  for  several  years  had  been 
a  growing  communion  in  all  the  neighboring  region, 
organized  in  this  town  :  and  from  that  dav  to  this,  their 
ministers  and  members  have  been  among  our  respeiited 
and  useful  citizens,  doing  cordially  their  appreciated  good 
work,  tor  the  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual  weltare  of  our 
community.  Their  gem  of  a  church  adorns  our  principal 
thoroughfare,  and  their  respected  clergyman  is  chairman 
of  our  school  committee,  and  is  active  in  every  enterprise 
for  the  public  benefit.      [Appendix,  P]. 

As  to  the  Friends  or  Q^iakers,  their  local  history,  it  is 
believed,  is  coeval  or  nearlv  so  with  the  history  of  the 
town.  They  have  produced  some  of  the  best  material  for 
usefulness,  for  promoting  the  general  weltare  and  that  of 
the  rising  generation  we  have  ever  had,  and  raised  some  of 
the  best  scholars  that  have  adorned  our  schools. 

About  A.  D.  i860  or  '61,  a  Methodist  societv  was  form.ed 


29 

in  town  and  maintained  its  established  ministry,  having  for 
their  clergyman  a  young  man  who  seemed  to  have  the 
hearts  of  his  people,  but  who  was  early  taken  from  them 
bv  death.  Finding  easy  access  to  churches  of  their  faith 
in  neighboring  towns,  they  did  not  long  continue  their  sep- 
arate organization,  but  either  formed  ecclesiastical  ties  out 
of  town,  or  dispersed  into  other  societies  of  this.  In  short, 
one  disadvantage  has  always  attended  us,  this,  namely,  to 
form  a  religious  connection  it  is  just  as  easy  to  go  out  of 
town,  in  many  instances  easier,  as  it  is  to  stay  in.  As 
reofards  the  jjeneral  interests  of  the  town,  the  result  ot  this 
condition  of  things,  as  may  be  supposed,  is  far  from  favor- 
able.     [Appendix,  Q^]. 

Till  a  very  recent  period,  the  town  has  never  been  with- 
out one  or  more  physicians,  most  of  whom,  according  to 
the  ideas  of  their  time,  have  been  well  read  in  their  pro- 
fession, worthy  of  the  respect  and  esteem  of  the  community  ; 
and  some  of  them,  on  account  of  tried  and  acknowledged 
skill,  in  demand  for  their  services  in  all  the  region  round 
about.      [Appendix,  R]. 

Lawyers  have  not  locally  flourished  among  us ;  but 
Teachers  have.  Among  them  were  men  who,  in  their  later 
career,  adorned  the  bar,  the  pulpit,  and  the  halls  of  learn- 
ing, but  who,  on  taking  their  tirst  start  in  the  great  work 
of  life,  wielded  the  ferrule  or  the  birch,  or  ruled  by  milder 
sway  in  our  school-houses.  A  mere  list  of  them  would 
occupy  a  large  space,  and  if  made  must  be  reserved  for 
another  place.      [/Appendix,  S]. 

About  A.  D.  1849,  one  of  our  citizens,  who  by  the  exer- 
tions of  an  honest  and  industrious  life  had  amassed  a  more 
ample  competencx'  than  usuallv  falls  to  the  lot  of  farmers, 
on  his  death-bed  left  bv  will  a  large  legacy  to  the  town 
($12,000),  to  be  used  for  the  establishment  here  of  a  high 
grade  school,  where  such '"  academic  instruction "  should 
be  given  as  the  voters  should  decide  on.  Thus  was  founded 
the  "Houghton  School,"  an  institution  which  has  gener- 


/ 


30 

erally  prospered,  which  introduced  a  new  and  elevating 
influence  amongst  us,  and  which  has  done  not  a  Httle 
towards  forming  the  character  and  furnishing  with  their 
first  mental  outflt  for  the  start  in  life  most  of  the  younger 
portion  of  our  citizens,  male  and  female,  who  have  grown, 
or  are  growing  up.  to  take  their  place  in  society.  [Appen- 
dix, T]. 

And  at  a  period  a  little  later,  viz.,  in  1856,  a  public 
Library,  free  to  all  our  inhabitants,  was  set  on  foot,  and 
has  continued  steadily  to  increase  since.  Its  healthful, 
cheering  and  improving  influence  has  been  felt  throughout 
our  community,  with  old  and  young,  with  male  and  female  ; 
and!  as  the  years  roll  on,  continues  to  exercise  its  kindly 
eftedts  more  and  more  extensively.      [Appendix,  U]. 

Thus,  omitting  much  I  would  cheerfully  notice  were 
there  time  ;  passing  by  without  so  much  as  a  glance  topics 
in  themselves  of  interest  and  importance  ;  rushing  over  the 
rail  at  a  rate  of  speed  which  allows  hardly  half  a  minute 
of  speech  to  a  year  of  local  history  ;  the  glimpses  we  gain 
of  the  landscape,  as  we  hurry  on,  can  neither  be  very 
minutely  surveyed  by  the  eye,  nor  deeply  impressed  in 
detail  for  the  memory.  But,  with  your  permission,  indul- 
gent friends,  I  will  for  a  moment  slacken  speed,  and  pause 
for  a  while  at  a  place  in  our  local  history,  and  in  that  also 
of  our  whole  people,  of  such  interest  and  importance  that 
you  would  not  forgive  me  if  I  passed  it  with  barely  an 
allusion. 

The  war  of  1861-65,  how  well  worthy  of  being  remem- 
bered, and  its  lessons*  deeply  impressed  on  our  souls  I  As 
we  have  seen  before,  what  sons  of  Bolton  served  in  the 
great  struggle  of  the  Revolution,  in  which  our  fathers 
engaged,  we  cannot  tell  with  accuracy  and  precision  :  what 
scenes  of  service  they  saw,  whether  Bunker  Hill,  with 
Putnam,  Prescott,  and  Warren  ;  or  Brandy  wine,  with 
La  Fayette  ;  or  Rhode  Island,  with  Rochambeau  ;  or 
Treoton,  Princeton  and  Yorktown,  with  Washington  and 


31 

Lincoln.  A  list  of  names,  a  catalogue  of  soldiers,  officers 
and  men,  rather  sad  to  say,  was  not  kept,  and  any  omis- 
sions in  that  way,  if  ever  partially  remedied,  can  only  be 
supplied  through  defe(!;tive  traditions  already  fading  out, 
and  through  such  papers  and  reminisctnces  of  persons  and 
families  as  may  chance  to  be  recovered.      [Appendix,  V]. 

The  record  of  our  last  grand  struggle  for  National  Life 
—  for  the  great  Ideas  and  Institutions  which  our  fathers 
established  —  for  the  Deliverance  of  those,  once  Bondmen, 
but  now  our  Fellow-Citizens  —  that,  thanks  for  every  noble 
and  grateful  thought  coming  from  above,  for  benefits  re- 
ceived I —  has  been  kept,  and  kept  with  a  faithfulness  worthy 
of  all  acknowledgment.  By  the  pious  care  of  both  our 
national  and  state  governments,  and  by  the  enthusiastic 
efforts  of  several  of  our  most  able  and  cultivated  writers 
and  thinker's,  we  have  the  most  elaborate,  the  most  careful 
and  minute  record  of  all  relating  to  that  most  eventful  time. 
All  names,  with  particulars,  impartially  registered  ;  every 
poor  soldier's  grave  marked,  whether  in  national  cemetery 
or  village  church-yard  ;  his  name  preserved  on  marble  tab- 
let or  costlv  monument  in  hall  or  public  square  ;  his  widow 
assisted,  and  his  children  not  left  unprovided  for ;  all  this 
and  much  more. 

But  I  come  to  our  own  more  particular  and  local  partici- 
pation in  these  deep  memories.  When  the  warning  voice 
of  the  great  storm  was  first  heard  ;  when  the  mighty  struggle 
was  about  to  begin,  which,  before  it  was  ended,  was  to 
make  four  million  freemen  out  of  four  million  slaves  ;  this 
little  town,  nestled  among  the  hills,  obscure  and  humble 
though  it  was,  was  not  found  either  indifferent  or  asleep. 
Though  no  telegraph  poles  dot  over  our  roads,  and  no 
trains  roar  through  our  valleys,  our  nerves,  nevertheless, 
tingled  as  quickly  as  those  of  any  more  favored  community 
in  the  bodv  politic.  When  the  alarm  was  sounded  in  our 
modern  streets,  as  promptly  as  on  the  eventful  19th  April, 
'76,  a  hundred  and  more  years  ago,  those  summoned  were 


32 


I 


found  ready  ;  and,  leaving  plough  and  last,  hammer  and 
saw,  took  their  place  —  yes,  and  manfully  maintained  it  — 
in  the  serried  ranks  of  war. 

And  when  the  call  came  again  and  yet  again,  with  what 
celerity  and  zeal  it  was  met  I  The  teacher  threw  down  his 
books,  the  school-boy  forsook  his  desk,  the  farmer  left  his 
plough  a-field,  the  Hudson  shoe-hand  forgot  his  factory, 
and  turning  back  on  home,  on  wife  and  children,  on  sweet- 
heart and  friends,  and  all  that  was  dear,  hurried  to  the 
fearful  strife,  which  was  to  be  "the  last  of  earth"  to  how 
many  of  them  yonder  tablets  tell.  A  thrice-told  tale,  so 
familiar  in  all  towns,  in  all  ears,  I  need  not  dwell  on  it  at 
length. 

Our  boys  could  say  —  each  one  almost  with  a  different 
experience  —  "much  of  this  I  saw,  and  part  of  this  I  was.*' 
The  Peninsular,  the  Seven  Days  Retreat :  we  were  there 
with  McClellan.  The  second  Bull  Run  :  we  were  there 
too,  and  some  of  our  number  never  came  back.  Freder- 
icksburg, Chancellorville,  Gettysburg  :  3'es,  we  heard  their 
thunders,  and  mingled  in  the  thickest  of  their  tights. 
When  the  bombs  fell  crashing  into  Forts  Jackson  and  St. 
Phillip,  when  Farragut  cut  the  chain,  and  passed  up  the 
river  to  New  Orleans  ;  when,  tied  like  a  target  to  the  mast, 
he  run  the  batteries  and  anchored  his  vessels  in  'the  bay  of 
Mobile,  we  were  there  ;  Sherman's  March  to  the  Sea  saw 
us ;  and  when  the  great  earthquake  throes  came  in  the 
Wilderness  and  around  Petersburg  and  Richmond,  with 
our  brave  comrades  from  all  over  the  land,  we  were  found 
readv  to  pour  Ibrth  our  blood,  and  yield  up  our  lives.  [Ap- 
pendix, W]. 

How  much  there  was  to  signalize  the  great  struggle,  and 
make  it  a  most  interesting,  as  well  as  affecting,  period  in 
our  annals  I  I  wish  I  had  time  to  tell.  How  deeply  our 
women  were  interested  in  it ;  how,  all  through  the  eventful 
time,  they  met,  week  after  week,  to  sew,  to  knit,  to  cook, 
to  put  up  hospital  stores  and  other  comforts  for  the  dear 


33 

absent  ones,  away  and  exposed  to  such  hardships  and 
dangers  ;  how  package  after  package,  and  box  after  box 
was  sent  by  them  to  the  Sanitary  Commission,  and  thence 
to  the  front  at  the  seat  of  war.  I  might  speak  of  distin- 
guished citizens  from  abroad,  Hke  Dr.  Loring,  John  C. 
Park,  Esq.,  and  others,  who  visited  us  during  the  time 
referred  to,  and  hibored  among  us  to  keep  the  sacred  tire 
of  patriotism  burning  brightly  in  our  souls,  and  to  stir  up 
the  minds  of  our  young  men  to  enter  our  armies  ;  I  might 
speak  too  of  the  dedication  of  the  tablets  which  now  grace 
so  proudly  the  neighboring  hall.  [Appendix,  X].  All 
these  topics,  so  rich  in  themselves,  on  which  one  would  be 
inclined  to  dwell  with  how  deep  an  interest,  I  merely 
glance  at  and  leave  ;  concluding  with  the  statement  that 
Bolton  sent  in  all  about  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  men  to 
the  war,  about  a  dozen  of  whom  (and  they  towards  the 
very  last)  were  substitutes  and  hirelings,  and  that  of  her 
own  sons  a  little  more  than  one-sixth  never  came  back. 

Such  is  a  glance,  taken  only  here  and  there  as  at  a 
building  of  goodly  appearance  and  size,  seen  through 
enveloping  mists,  we  have  been  able  to  take  of  the  history 
of  of  our  town.  Like  other  human  histories,  it  is  not  with- 
out its  pages  which  one  would  wish  removed  ;  nor  without 
passages  which,  if  fidelity  to  truth  would  allow,  we  would 
be  glad  to  have  expunged  ;  but  on  the  whole  it  is  a  worthy 
and  honorable,  if  not  a  proud  record  :  and  the  sons  need 
not  feel  ashamed  of  the  fathers,  nor  the  daughters  of  the 
mothers.  We  are,  it  is  true,  among  the  small  towns  of  the 
state,  of  little  importance  socially  or  politically  ;  but  faith- 
ful history  enables  us  to  say,  we  have  done  our  share  of 
good  work,  however  comparatively  insignificant,  and  made 
our  mark  on  the  Century,  though  it  may  be  but  a  mere 
scratch. 

Fellow-citizens  and  Friends,  we  have  cast  a  retrospective 
glance  into  the  affairs  of  our  fathers  ;  may  we  not,  before 
we  close,  take  another  glance  into  the  future,  with  regard 


34 

to  our  own  prospects?  Our  opportunities,  are  they  small?] 
Our  position,  considered  either  geographically,  with  refer-] 
ence  to  the  great  centres,  or  in  relation  to  trade,  or  climate, 
or  the  market  —  is  it  unfavorable?  Is  there  any  good  rea- 
son, in  the  nature  of  things  and  the  prospects  that  are 
dawning  upon  us,  why  the  best  spirit  of  our  times  —  these 
times  of  mental  a6tivity,  of  enterprise,  of  philanthrophy  — 
should  not  circulate  like  life-blood  through  our  veins? 
May  not  all  that  is  unfriendly  to  good  manners  and  morals, 
and  pure  religion,  and  to  the  best  interests  of  our  race,  be 
gradually  eliminated  from  our  spiritual  soil,  as  pests  are 
desti'oyed  from,  the  crops?  Why  should  not  the  year  of 
"Grace,  1976,  see  Bolton,  if  still  an  agricultural  town  —  as 
in  all  human  probability  it  doubtless  will  be — behold  it 
also  a  town  of  which  maybe  said,  everything  healthful  for 
man,  and  not  much  that  is  evil,  grows  there,  as  in  the  gar- 
den of  the  Lord  ;  a  spot  of  this  fair  earth  of  which  the 
Great  Father  may  say  :  "  It  is  abundantly  watered  with  my 
blessing  and  is  fruitful  and  beautiful?" 


APPENDIX 


For  the  Centennial  observances,  not  only  was  the  Chief 
Decorator  ably  assisted  in  ornamenting  the  church  with 
bouquets  of  flowers,  as  well  as  by  flags  and  streamers,  by 
the  Misses  Newton  ;  but  the  town  hall  also  was  adorned  by 
him  in  a  similar  manner.  Messrs.  Barrett,  Hurlbut  and 
Whitcomb — to  whom  the  preparation  of  the  banquet  was 
assigned  —  assisted  by  their  wives  and  other  ladies,  entered 
zealously  into  their  share  of  the  duty  ;  and  a  hearty  return 
of  thanks  is  due  to  them  for  the  satisfactory  manner  in 
which  it  was  performed.  The  display  of  fire-works  in  the 
evening,  under  the  superintendence  of  F.  E.  Whitcomb, 
Esq.,  was  appreciatingly  received;  as  was  also  the  caval- 
cade and  procession  of  young  men  and  school  children  in 
the  morning.  On  account  of  its  length,  several  pages  of 
the  address  were  omitted  in  the  delivery,  and  one  or  two  of 
them  taken  from  the  text  and  transferred  to  the  appendix. 

[A.     Page  2.] 

See  Address  in  Commemoration  of  the  Two-liundreth  Anniversary  of 
the  Incorporation  of  Lancaster,  Mass.,  by  Joseph  Willard  (1853). 

See  Bi-Centennial  Discourse  delivered  in  the  Meeting-house  of  tlie 
First  Parish,  Lancaster,  on  Sunday,  Feb.  20th,  1876,  in  Commemoration 
of  the  Destruction  of  the  Town  by  the  Indians,  Feb.  21,  1670.  By  Rev. 
A.  P.  Marvin. 

A  curious  relic  of  the  olden  times,  a  "pocket-book,"  as  it  is  called, 
found  among  the  papers  of  the  first  clerks  of  the  town,  has  been  preserved. 
It  contains,  among  other  items  and  jottings  down,  the  fragment  of  a  diary 
kept  by  a  party  on  the  "war-path,"  out  in  pursuit  (through  what  is  now 
New  Hampshire)  of  a  band  of  Indians,  who  are  escaping  with  their  spoils 
from  some  scene  of  violence  in  territory  (as  it  is  now)  of  this  town  or  of 
Lancaster.  The  date  is  altogether  uncertain.  The  figures  in  the  left-hand 
margin  refer  to  days  of  the  month.  Leaves  from  the  beginning,  which 
would  indicate  by  whom  written,  are  missing : 


36 

9-  We  traveled  14  miles  and  camped  at  ths  norwest  corner  of  winipi- 
socket  pond. 

10.  We  traveled  16  miles,  and  camped  at  the  north  side  of  Cusumpe 
pond. 

1 1 .  We  traveled  6  miles  X  by  E  from  Cusumpe  and  there  camped  — 
and  sent  out  scouts,  and  some  of  our  scouts  thought  they  discovered 
smoke. 

12.  We  sent  out  scouts,  and  they  discovered  nothing. 

13.  We  lay  still  and  sent  out  .scouts,  and  to  strengthen  us  to  go  f.ir- 
ther  we  sent  home  29  men. 

14.  We  traveled  10  miles  towards  pigwackett.  and  then  came  upon  a 
branch  of  Saco  river,  and  sent  out  scouts. 

15.  We  lay  still  and  sent  out  .scouts  and  discovered  nothing. 

16.  We  traveled  6  miles  and  came  upon  an  Indian  wigwam  —  the 
Indians  being  gone  we  left  16  m2n  with  our  packs  and  ths  rest  pursued 
them  till  dark  and  stayed  there  all  night. 

17.  We  followed  their  track  till  eight  o'clock  ne.xt  day  and  then  we 
came  back  to  fetch  our  packs,  traveled  the  remaining  part  of  that  day  and 
the  night  ensuing  six  miles. 

18.  We  traveled  20  miles  and  c.imped  at  the  great  pond  upon  Sawco 
river. 

19.  We  traveled  22  miles  and  camped  at  a  great  pond. 

20.  We  traveled  5  miles  and  came  to  a  wigwam  where  the  Indians  had 
but  lately  gone  from,  and  then  we  pursued  their  track  about  2  miles  far- 
ther and  discovered  their  smoke  and  then  tarried  till  about  two  o'clock  at 
night  and  then  came  upon  them  and  killed  10  Indians  which  was  all  there 
was. 

2 1 .  We  traveled  6  miles. 

22.  We  lay  still  and  kept  scouts  upon  our  back  tracks  to  see  if  there 
would  any  pursue. 

23.  We  traveled  30  miles  and  camped  at  Cocheco. 

The  diary  ends  abruptly.  How  old  the  book  is,  no  one  can  tell. 
After  the  minutes  we  have  given,  it  is  filled  up  with  various  entries  of  one 
sort  and  another,  some  relating  to  recent  and  private  affairs. 

[B.     Page  3.] 

The  first  new.spaper  in  North  America  was  set  up  in  Boston  about  A. 
U.  1690.  It  was  a  small  sheet  of  four  4to  pages,  one  of  which  was  blank. 
It  contained  a  record,  very  poor  and  meagre,  of  passing  occurrences  for- 
eign and  domestic.  One  number  only  of  this  paper  is  known  to  be  in 
existence,  in  the  state  paper  office  in  London.    It  bears  date  Sept.  25,  1690. 

On  Monday,  April  24.  1704.  "The  Boston  News  Letter"'  appeared, 
printed  on  a  half  sheet  of  paper.  I2x3  inches,  made  up  i:i  tw.i  page;  folio, 
with  two  columns  on  each  page.  It  had  hut  feeble  support  and  limited 
circulation.  After  struggling  along  for  years,  in  1763  it  w.is  united  with 
another  paper  called  the  "  Boston  Post  Boy  &  Advertiier,"  and  became 
the  official  organ  of  the  government.  Passing  through  several  hands  and 
becoming  meantime  strongly  Tory  in  its  politics,  as  events  moved  on,  it 
continued  to  be  published  through  the  siege  of  Boston,  till  about  March, 
L776,  when  with  the  terminatiQn  of  the  siege  it  was  discontinued. 


37 

Other  papers  were  the  "Boston  Gazette,"  begun  1719;  the  "New 
England  Courant,"  conducted  by  James,  brother  to  Dr.  Benj.  Franklin, 
commenced  in  1721  ;  the  "  Boston  Gazette  &  Country  Journal,"'  published 
by  Edes  &  Gill,  begun  April,  1755,  the  chief  organ  of  the  Whig  leaders, 
which  lasted  through  the  war,  and  for  some  years  afterwards  ;  the  "  Massa- 
chusetts Spy,"'  conducted  by  Isaiah  Thomas  at  Worcester,  which  did  not 
commence  its  issues  till  July,  1770. — Buckingham's  Reminiscences,  Vol.  I. 


[C.     Page  4.] 

These  statements  relative  to  the  "  Bay  Road"  are  made  not  only  on 
authority  of  the  records,  but  also  of  traditions  still  current  in  the  families 
of  Mr.  Marshal  W.  Houghton  and  hi?  sister  Mrs.  Sarah  S.  Learned,  Mr. 
Joel  Sawyer,  and  others  familiar  with  the  localities  of  the  region,  and  who 
have  had  access  to  the  early  papers  and  documents  of  the  town. 

[D.     Page  6.] 

Why  an  officer  exercising  such  functions  should  be  called  a  "  tithing 
man "  does  not  appear.  Perhaps,  originally,  an  officer,  some  of  whose 
duties  were  the  same,  or  similar,  was  collector  also  of  tithes.  Did  the 
office,  along  with  its  designation,  corns  as  a  Puritan  institution  from  Old 
England  ? 

[E.     Page  7.] 

Boston,  in  1722,  less  than  a  century  from  its  first  settlement  by  eight 
years,  and  sixteen  before  the  incorporation  of  Bolton,  occupied  not  much 
more  than  a  half  of  the  old  peninsular ;  without  bridges,  which  were  not 
built  till  many  years  afterwards,  its  sole  connection  by  road  with  the  main 
being  over  "the  Neck,""  which  was  so  narrow  that  the  tides,  when  high, 
approached  nearly  to  the  road-way  on  either  side.  In  population  it  was 
about  12, GOO.  It  contained  11  churches,  had  42  streets,  36  alleys,  and 
nearly  3000  houses,  about  one-third  of  which  were  of  brick,  and  the 
remainder  of  wood.  It  had  been  eight  times  swept  by  fires,  and  six  times 
severely  visited  by  small-pox.  by  which  disease  large  numbers  of  the 
inhabitants  lost  their  lives. 

To  indicate  somewhat  their  relative  importance  at  the  commencement 
of  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  we  give  the  amount  of  taxes  paid  in  to  the 
government  of  the  Province,  by  several  of  the  towns,  most  of  them  in 
Worcester  county,  in  the  year  1770: 


38 

i  s.  d. 

Boston 3,083  9  3 

Roxbury, 335  o  8 

Dedham, 235  12  9 

Woodstock,  then  considered  in  Massachusetts,     .    .  218  o  4 

Lancaster,  .    • 209  7  3 

Leominster, 63  9  9 

Worcester 166  2  2 

Harvard • 91  9  i 

Bolton, 87  1  6 

Princeton 20  2  8 

Leicester, 8112  2 

Northborough, 45  2  4 

Fitchburg,      l8  11  5 

This  list  of  course  might  be  greatly  extended  ;  but  enough  is  given  to 
show  the  important  changes  which  have  since  taken  place.  The  territory 
now  Clinton,  at  the  time  indicated  and  for  many  years  afterwards,  was  an 
obscure  corner  of  Lancaster,  with  only  a  dozen  or  so  of  inhabitants,  with 
none  of  its  large  facilities  for  manufacturing  purposes  "  evolved,'"  which 
have  since  been  put  to  use. 

[  F.     Page  9.] 
The  town  was  named  —  according  to  tradition  —  after  Charles  Powlet, 
third  Duke  of  Bolton,  who  was  long  a  member  of  the  council. 

[G.     Page  10.] 

In  lieu  of  citing  names  of  individuals  from  the  old  records,  as  they 
occur  in  connection  with  special  action  of  the  town,  or  in  other  ways  — 
which  from  the  quantity  of  the  ground  to  be  gone  over,  and  the  frequent 
occurrence  of  such  mention  would  be  impossible,  within  our  limits  —  we 
have  thought  best  to  copy  in  alphabetical  order,  per  the  books,  a  list  of 
names  of  the  earlier  settlers,  with  such  running  commentary  as  we  can 
find  space  for. 

Atherton  was  one  of  those  early  names,  and  later,  Amsden,  Babcock, 
Ball,  Baker,  Bacon,  Barrett  (spelt  also  Barrott  and  Barrat,  a  once  large 
and  influential  family  that  settled  on  Long  Hill,  from  which  descended  our 
present  Town  Treasurer,  Roswell  Barrett,  Esq.),  Barnard,  Bayley,  Bige- 
low.  Brooks,  Bruce,  Butler,  Burnam,  Carter,  Caswell,  Cooledge  (Coolidge), 
Chaplin,  Chase,  Clark,  Danforth,  Davis,  Divoll,  Daikin,  Edwards,  Ellis, 
Ellinwood,  Fairbanks,  Farnsworth,  Faulkner,  Farwell,  Fife  (Foife,  Fyfe), 
Fuller,  Fosket,  Foster,  Fry  (a  once  numerous  family,  principally  among 
"the  Friends"  or  "  Quakers,''  which  produced  some  of  our  ablest  men), 
Fletcher,  Gardner  (a  name  which  did  not  come  in  with  the  first  settlement, 
but  which  belonged,  at  a  comparatively  early  period,  to  one  of  the  most 
influential  men  the  town  has  ever  had,  the  late  Stephen  P.),  Gates,  Gibbs, 
Goss,  Goddard,  Greenleaf,  Goodnow,  Gould,  Hale,  Haven,  Harris,  Hem- 


enway,  Hastings,  Holder,  Howe,  Houghton  (a  numerously  represented 
family  in  all  periods  of  the  town's  history,  and  associated  with  some  of  our 
most  valued  institutions),  Holman  (a  family  which  has  produced  individu- 
als who  have  exercised  a  most  marked  influence  in  all  the  affairs  of  the 
place,  among  whom  Genl.  Silas  and  his  son  Genl.  Amory),  Howard,  Ja- 
cobs, Jewett,  Johnson,  Jones,  Keyes,  Knight,  Kimmens,  Larned,  Lawrence, 
Longley  (a  family  which  produced  several  highly  useful  citizens,  among 
whom  were  three  of  our  town  clerks,  grandfather,  father  and  son,  who  held 
office  successively  after  each  other),  Maynard,  Marble,  Meriam,  MacBride 
(a  name  now  confined  pretty  much  to  the  neighboring  town  of  Berlin), 
Mac  Wain  (a  name  which  has  also  entirely  disappeared  here),  Moore  (a 
name  largely  represented,  in  several  families  remotely,  if  at  all,  connected 
with  each  other,  which  has  been  borne  by  three  of  our  town  treasurers,  a 
father  and  two  sons,  one  of  whom  was  C.  C.  Moore,  Esq,,  treasurer  for 
more  than  thirty  years),  Newton  (two  or  three  distinct  families,  to  one  of 
which  belongs  Nathaniel  A.,  Esq.,  our  present  highly  respected  representa- 
tive in  the  legislature),  Nicholls,  Nurse  (modernized  into  Nourse,  a  once 
numerous  family,  divided  into  many  sub-families,  and  which  has  left  its 
impress  as  well  as  name,  on  all  our  local  affairs  for  two  or  three  genera- 
tions). Oaks  (a  name  now  wholly  unknown  here),  Osborn  (Osburn,  a  name 
years  ago  one  of  the  most  familiar,  but  now  borne  by  but  one  individual), 
Pierce,  Parker,  Pratt,  Pollard  (once  the  name  borne  by  many  in  town, 
now  confined  to  a  few).  Rice,  Richardson  (an  influential  name  that  has 
now  wholly  disappeared  amongst  us),  Reed,  Russell,  Ross,  Robins  (of 
which  names  the  same  may  be  said),  Sawyer  (a  name  which,  frequently  as 
it  appears  elsewhere,  is  getting  to  be  comparatively  infrequent  here.  It 
has  been  often  a  name  of  weight  and  influence,  however,  as  well  as  of  fre- 
quency. The  late  "Squire  Joseph,  Capt.  John  and  others,  who  bore  it,  are 
represented  in  others,  their  decendants,  still  with  us).  Stearns,  Sawtell, 
Stiles,  Swan,  Stone,  are  names  which,  as  borne  by  members  of  the  old 
families  of  the  town,  have  disappeared,  though  the  last  mentioned  is  still 
heard  in  our  every  day  speech,  as  borne  by  an  honored  representative,  a 
much  more  recent  comer.  Stratton  is  still  among  us.  The  letter  T  finds 
its  representatives  in  Tinney,  Townsend,  and  Tombs  (the  first  and  last  of 
which  are  no  longer  living  names  within  our  lines).  U  and  V  have  no 
representatives,  while  W  is  the  most  fruitful  and  best  represented  letter  in 
the  alphabet.  Whitcomb  is  the  large  name  under  that,  with  numerous 
representatives  in  this  and  earlier  generations.  There  were  Col.  John,  his 
son  Jonathan,  and  his  grandson  'Squire  Edwin  A.,  quite  a  prominent  man 
among  us,  only  recently  deceased,  and  very  many  more.  Other  names 
under  W :  Walcott,  Whitney,  White,  Welch,  Wheeler  (of  which,  in  one 
of  the  families,  the  late  Col.  Caleb  was  the  last  representative),  Wood- 
bury, Wood,  Wetherbee.  The  name  Wheeler  among  the  Friends  is 
represented  in  our  influential  fellow-citizens,  Jesse  B.  and  Thomas  A., 
and  others. 


40 

Our  list  has  swelled  to  large  proportions ;  and,  even  if  incomplete,^ 
must  be  discontinued  if  we  would  have  room  for  other  topics. 

Other  names,  now  familiar,  the  bearers  of  which  are  for  the  most  part 
still  living,  and  many  of  them  among  our  most  worthy  citizens,  are  of, 
comparatively,  recent  introduction.  Such  as  Bailey,  or  Bayley,  Barker, 
Bagley,  Bellows,  Brigham,  Campbell,  Carpenter,  Collins,  Cunningham, 
Dow,  Edes,  Felton,  Forbush,  Oilman,  Grassie,  Hamilton,  Harrington. 
Heywood,  Hurlbut.  Rollins,  Robinson.  Searle,  Sloper,  Wallace,  Wallis 
(this  last  is  represented  in  John  S.  Wallis,  Esq.,  for  some  years  of  our  board 
of  Selectmen,  and  who  represented  the  town  in  the  legislature  of  1861)  ; 
and,  probably,  others  we  do  not  now  recall  —  of  persons,  very  likely,  who 
removed  years  ago  out  of  town.  The  Higginson  family,  of  which  Col.  T. 
W.  Higginson  is  a  son,  for  some  years  owned  and  occupied  the  estate 
afterwards  S.  V.  S.  Wilder's,  and  where  Mr.  Forbush  now  resides. 

Until  quite  recently  there  were  no  persons  of  Irish  descent  in  town. 
Now  they  are  quite  numerous,  represented  by  such  names  as  Broderick, 
Butler,  Coyne  or  Kine,  Doyle,  Dugan,  Haggarty,  Murphy,  Shaunessy, 
Sullivan,  &c. 

[  H.  Page  II.] 
The  paragraph  relative  to  Hoosac  tunnel  and  the  elegant  station-house 
—  it  may  be  as  well  to  state  for  the  information  of  distant  readers  —  was 
written  in  an  ironical  vein.  Lancaster  railroad,  built  to  connect  Hudson 
and  South  Lancaster,  the  old  Fitchburg  road  and  the  Worcester  &  Nashua, 
between  the  valley  of  the  Assabet  river  and  that  of  the  Nashua,  and  run- 
ning with  a  somewhat  curved  course  through  the  centre  of  Bolton,  though 
very  nearly  completed  years  ago,  has  never  been  quite  finished,  and  used 
by  the  public.  No  buildings  have  been  erected  in  connection  with  Lan- 
caster R.  R.,  and  consequently  no  structure  at  the  place  indicated  in  the 
address.  The  writer  spoke  rather  of  what  should  be,  of  what  he  would 
be  glad  to  see,  than  of  that  which  actually  was.  A  note  relative  to  this 
matter  will  be  inserted  at  another  place,  viz. :  at  M.  farther  on. 

[I.     Page  15.] 

In  the  early  settlement  of  the  country,  and  for  two  centuries  after- 
wards, it  was  customary,  on  extending  a  "call"  to  a  candidate  for  a 
parish,  to  make  him  an  offer  of  so  much  for  annual  salary,  and  so  much 
for  "encouragement,"'  or,  as  it  came  to  be  phrased  afterwards,  so  much 
"  for  a  settlement."  This  encouragement  or  .settlement  money  was  sup- 
posed to  be  used  by  the  new  minister  in  paying  off  old  debts  contracted 
for  kis  education,  in  purchasing  necessary  books  for  his  library,  or  in  pro- 
curing articles  of  furniture  for  his  household. 

The  writer  has  found  it  difficult,  with  such  references  as  he  has  at 
hand,  to  ascertain  the  value  of  pounds,  shillings  and  pence  in  the  provin- 


41 

cial  currency  of  that  period,    1741.     He  can  only  state  in  general  it  was 
very  much  less  than  that  of  the  same  denominations  in  English  money. 

[J.     Page  16.] 

All  the  towns  of  the  Colonies,  as  afterwards  in  the  war  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, furnished  their  share  of  stores  and  funds,  and  their  contingent  of 
men,  for  the  French  and  Indian  wars,  which  broke  out  shortly  after  the 
middle  of  the  last  century  was  passed.  This  town,  accordingly,  bore  its 
part,  and  contributed  its  quota  of  men  to  that  struggle,  which  inaugurated 
by  the  ill-fated  expedition  and  disastrous  defeat  of  Genl.  Braddock  in 
Pennsylvania,  culminated  at  last  in  the  banishment  of  the  French  power 
from  America,  in  the  capture  of  the  Canadas,  and  in  the  conquest  of 
Montreal  and  (2uebec.  Traditions  relating  to  that  period  have,  however, 
pretty  much  died  out,  overshadowed  by  others  of  much  greater  interest 
pertaining  to  a  later  time  ;  and  the  record  which  refers  to  the  era  of  that 
war  is  of  the  most  meagre  description  —  not  a  line  which  adds  anything 
either  to  our  local  or  general  knowledge  of  the  events  which  then  occurred. 
But  our  books  are  not  wholly  without  items  which  significantly  point  to 
the  period;  as,  for  instance,  the  following:  "Charles  Holman,  born  in 
Concord,  Feb.  24,  1727,  slain  in  the  Army  at  Lake  George."  (This  —  as 
appears  from  evidence  found  elsewhere  —  was  in  August,  1758,  when  there 
was  a  camp  at  Lake  George.) 

But  when,  some  weeks  after  our  Centennial  Celebration,  search  was 
made  in  families  of  the  town  for  writings  and  documents  relating  to  the 
Revolutionary  period,  and  before,  it  proved,  in  some  instances,  unexpect- 
edly successful.  At  the  house  of  Mr.  Paul  Whitcomb  in  a  drawer  of  old 
papers,  supposed  of  little  or  no  value,  was  found  a  small  4to  MSS.  volume, 
bound  in  hog-skin,  with  a  peculiar  brass  clasp,  which  contained,  along 
with  other  items,  the  "  Orderly  Book"  of  his  grandfather,  Col.  JohnWhit- 
comb,  a  military  diary  of  the  times  of  which  we  are  speaking.  We  give 
in  brief  such  little  account  of  it  and  abstract  from  it  as  our  space  will 
allow. 

Col.  John  Whitcomb  of  Bolton  —  as  appears  from  his  title  —  was  in 
command  of  a  regiment ;  and,  at  one  end  of  the  book  (several  pages 
being  lost  out)  is  recorded  a  list  of  the  companies  comprising  the  regi- 
ment. The  first  seven  companies  are  missing ;  but,  beginning  with  the 
8th  company,  we  have  a  list  of  the  rest,  officers  and  men,  to  the  i8th  and 
last.  Then,  turning  the  book,  we  have,  at  the  other  end,  with  many 
quirks  and  flourishes,  in  a  handsome  hand,  the  following:  "  Col.  John 
Whitcomb's  Orderly  Book.  August!  ith,  1760.  For  the  total  Reduction 
of  the  Canadas  ;"  and  from  the  date  just  given  to  the  following,  Nov.  9th, 
we  have  the  record  of  the  places  of  encampment,  pass-words,  and  orders 
of  the  day,  till,  as  we  suppose,  the  army  was  .disbanded,  and  Co.l  Whit- 
comb returned  to  his  home,  where  we  find  him  afterwards,  serving  in  a 
civil  capacity. 


42 

The  army  for  the  reduction  of  the  Canadas,  it  seems,  was  composed] 
of  three  divisions:     ist,  "the  Regulars"  (trained  British  soldiers);  2d, 
"the  Provincials;"  and  3d,  the  Indian  allies.     We  give,  as  specimens, 
one  or  two  extracts   (dropping  the  old-fashioned   spelling).     The  first 
entry  is  as  follows  : — 

"Camp  on  Lake  Chamflaix,  nth  August,  1760. 
"  Parole  Amherst.     For  the  day,  tomorrow,  the  Regulars,  Major  Camp- 
bell,   Col.    for   the   day.     Provincials,    Col.  Ruggles,  of ;  for  the 

piquet,  this  night,  Lt.  Col.  Saltonstall.  The  reports  of  the  Regulars  to 
be  made  to  the  field  officers  of  the  Regulars.  The  reports  of  the  Provin- 
cials to  Col.  of  the  Provincials,  who  are  to  make  their  reports  to  Col. 
Haviland.  It  is  expected  for  the  future,  that  the  boats  are  kept  more 
regular  in  their  columns,  and  that  they  observe  the  orderof  rowing;  two 
bateaux  abreast,  and  that  a  careful  lookout  is  kept  for  signals,  when  the 
army  encamps.  When  the  army  encamps  near  the  enemy,  their  tents 
must  be  in  three  lines,  leaving  an  interval  between  each  company.  In 
case  the  army  lands,  on  the  passage,  as  few  tents  as  possible  to  be  brought 
on  shore,  as  most  of  the  men  will  find  room  to  lay  in  their  bateaux.  When 
it  is  thought  fit  the  army  should  embark,  orders  will  be  given  to  the  Roy- 
als to  beat  the  getter  ale,  and  the  asseiitblee  half  an  hour  afterwards.  The 
other  corps  to  take  it  from  them,  and  wait  in  their  boats  until  the  signal 
is  made  for  sailing."     *     *     *     * 

At  date  of  Sept.  i,  1760,  under  "  moving  orders,"  is  the  following: 

"As  the  army  is  now  going  into  the  inhabitable  part  of  the  country,  it 
is  ordered  that  none  of  the  inhabitants  be  plundered  or  ill  used,  on  any 
pretence  whatsoever.  Whoever  is  detected  disobeying  these  orders  will  be 
hanged.  Milk,  butter,  provision,  or  anything  else  must  be  regularly  paid 
for.  This  to  induce  the  inhabitants  to  stay  in  their  villages ;  and  good 
usage  will  prevent  their  men  from  joining  the  French  army."  *     *     * 

At  camp  before  Montreal,  on  Monday,  Sept,  8th,  1760,  we  find  the 
following : 

"  Genl.  Amherst's  Orders,  Parole,  King  George  in  Canada.  The  grena- 
diers and  light  infantry  to  parade  at  the  grenadiers'  encampment,  where 
they  will  be  joined  by  a  12  pounder.  Col.  Haldeman  will  take  command 
of  these  corps  to  take  possession  of  the  city  of  Montreal.  The  oldest 
ensign  in  the  army  to  go  in  to  take  charge  of  the  colours.  Col.  Halde- 
ifian  will  not  permit  any  one  to  go  in  or  out  of  town,  except  the  guard  and 
those  in  public  offices  and  officers  of  all  the  departments,  for  the  care  of 
all  kinds  of  stores.     A  list  of  names  of  all  these  will  be  given  him. 

"  The  General  sees  with  infinite  pleasure  the  success  which  has  crowned 
the  indefatigable  efforts  of  his  Majesty's  troops  and  faithful  subjects  in 
North  America.  The  Marquis  Voudrial  has  capitulated ;  the  troops  in 
Canada  have  laid  down  their  arms,  and  are  not  to  serve  during  this  war; 
the  whole  country  submits  to  the  dominion  of  Great  Britain.  On  this 
occasion  the  three  armies  are  all  entitled  to  the  general  thanks.  And  the 
General  assures  them  that  he  will  take  the  first  opportunity  of  acquainting 
his  Majesty  of  the  zeal  and  bravery  which  has  always  been  exerted  by  the 
officers  and  soldiers  of  the  regular  and  provincial  troops,  and  also  by  his 
faithful  Indian  allies.  The  General  is  confident,  that  when  the  troops  are 
informed  this  country  is  the  King's,  they  will  not  disgrace  themselves  by 
the  least  appearance  of  inhumanity,  or  by  an  unsoldierly  behaviour  in 


I 


43 

taking  any  plunder, —  that  the  Canadians,  who  now  become  British  sub- 
jects, may  feel  the  good  effects  of  his  Majesty's  protection."' 

Col.  John  Whitcomb,  from  whose  orderly  book  the  above  extracts  were 
taken,  served,  from  fifteen  to  twenty  years  afterward,  in  the  Revolutionary 
armies.  His  residence,  when  at  home  in  Bolton,  was  at  the  East  end  ; 
and  he  was  proprietor,  or  one  of  the  proprietors,  of  the  lime-kiln.  From 
him  it  was  handed  down  to  his  decendants,  one  of  whom  was  "Squire 
Edwin  A.  Whitcomb,  the  last  who  applied  it  to  any  use.  Many  years 
afterwards  lime  from  other  parts  of  the  country  could  be  got  out  at  so 
much  less  expense,  the  working  of  th?  Bolton  rock  was  discontinued. 

[K.     Page  19.] 

Mr.  Goss,  as  is  mentioned  in  the  address,  was  dismissed  in  1771. 
Some  of  our  readers  will  like  to  know  the  "  conclusion  of  the  whole  mat- 
ter." After  the  dismission,  Mr.  Longley,  the  constable,  was  instructed 
(probably  by  advice  of  legal  counsel)  to  prohibit  him  from  going  into  the 
meeting-house;  and  "on  the  succeeding  Lord's  day  by  violence  did  pre- 
vent him  from  entering  the  desk."  This  done,  Mr.  Goss  then  said  that 
"he  should  continue  his  labors  in  the  gospel  as  usual,  that  those  of  his 
friends  who  wished  to  hear  him  might  proceed  to  his  house,  that  he  should 
keep  on  preaching  as  heretofore.'"  He  had  built  and  was  then  living  in 
the  house  since  occupied  by  Generals  Silas  and  Amory  Holman.  After 
the  dismissal,  and  being  forbidden  the  use  of  the  desk  at  the  meeting- 
house, he  held  forth,  Sunday  after  Sunday,  in  his  own  house  ;  a  consider- 
able minority  following  him  thither,  while  the  major  part  of  the  old 
congregation  occupied  the  meeting-house,  and  listened  to  the  ministrations 
of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Walley. 

The  manuscript  from  which  we  have  derived  the  greater  part  of  these 
facts,  ends  with  this  sentence  :  "  Bolton  church  was  the  first  to  withstand 
the  power  supposed  to  be  vested  in  the  clergy ;  thus  did  triumph  the  true 
principles  of  liberty  in  ecclesiastical  affairs.'' 

But  it  was  a  triumph  purchased  with  a  price,  and  that  no  small  one,  as 
our  narrative  shows.  The  movement  was  altogether  in  advance  of  the 
times,  and  was  too  audacious  and  high-handed  a  measure  to  be  passed 
over  lightly  and  without  signal  marks  of  reprobation.  Accordingly,  the 
neighboring  ministers,  sympathizing  with  Mr.  Goss,  refused  Bolton  church 
members  permission  to  come  to  the  communion  table  in  their  churches ; 
and  in  every  way,  so  far  as  their  power  extended,  and  it  was  not  very  limi- 
ted in  those  days,  sought  to  excommunicate  them.  The  controversy,  for 
its  day,  was  a  noted  one,  and  several  pamphlets,  advocating  the  views  of 
one  side  or  the  other,  were  published.  Many  of  these  pamphlets,  we  are 
told,  are  in  the  libraries  both  at  Harvard  and  Yale. 

The  law-suits  for  the  recovery  of  Mr.  Goss's  salary,  protracted  year 
after  vear,  lasted,  carried  on  bv  his  executors  and  heirs,  till  sgme  tjme 


*  44 

after  his  death.  We  have  spoken  of  the  handsome  Latin  inscription  on 
his  tombstone.  There  are  some  who  would  like  to  see  a  translation.  We 
subjoin  one  : 

"  Sacred  to  the  memory  of  Rev.  Thomas  Goss,  A.  M.,  Pastor  of  the 
church  among  the  Boltonians,  who  for  upwards  thirty-nine  years,  having 
exercised  the  sacred  office,  departed  this  life  Jan.  17th.  1780,  in  the  63d 
year  of  his  age.  A  man  adorned  with  piety,  hospitality,  friendliness  and 
other  virtues  both  public  and  private  ;  somewhat  broken  in  body,  but 
endowed  with  wonderful  fortitude :  he  was  the  first  among  the  clergy  in 
these  unhappy  times  to  be  greviously  persecuted  for  boldly  opposing  those 
who  were  striving  to  overturn  the  prosperity  of  the  churches,  and  for 
herorically  struggling  to  maintain  the  ecclesiastical  polity  which  was 
handed  down  by  our  ancestors.     Friends  erected  this  monument." 

See  "  Sermon  (text  and  notes)  on  the  Termination  of  Fifty  Years  of 
his  Ministry,  Jan.  31,  1836,"  by  Dr.  Bancroft,  of  Worcester. 

See  "  The  Worcester  Association  and  its  Antecedents:  a  History  of 
Four  Ministerial  Associations,  «S:c.,""  by  Dr.  Allen,  of  Northborough 
(1868). 

See,  also,  pamphlets  before  refe/red  to. 

See  a  MSS.  Account  of  th3  Goss  Difficulties,  by  S.  S.  Houghton,  of 
Bolton. 

See  Sabine's  Royalists  of  the  American  Revolution. 

After  the  death  of  Mr.  Goss,  and  Mr.  Walley  had  resigned  his  pulpit 
and  left  the  place,  in  September,  1783.  a  call  was  extended,  by  the  church 
and  parish,  to  Mr.  Levi  Whitman  (H.  L'.  1779),  to  settle  with  them,  "in 
the  work  of  the  gospel  ministry."  The  call  was  accepted,  and  prepara- 
tions made  for  his  ordination,  the  following  churches  being  invited  to 
constitute  the  council,  viz, :  Church  in  Lancaster,  Rev.  Mr.  Harrington ; 
church  in  Chelsea,  Rev.  Mr.  Payson ;  2d  South  Church  in  Boston,  Rev. 
Mr.  Everett  (father  of  Hon.  Edward  Everett)  :  3d  church  in  Bridgewater, 
Rev.  Mr.  Angier ;  2d  church  in  Pembroke,  Rev.  Mr.  Hitchcock:  West 
Church  in  Boston,  Rev.  Mr.  Howard :  church  in  Harvard,  Rev.  Mr.  Gros- 
venor :  church  in  Stow,  Rev.  Mr.  Newell ;  the  2d  church  in  Bolton  (now 
Berlin),  Rev.  Mr.  Puffer.  But  Mr.  Whitman's  health  was  so  much  im- 
paired as  not  to  allow  of  his  being  settled,  and  he  never  became  a  citizen 
of  the  town. 

[L.     Page  19.] 

In  prosecuting  inquiries,  some  weeks  after  the  Centennial  celebration, 
we  learned,  from  several  sources,  that  the  following  persons  belonging  to 
Bolton  served  during  the  War  of  the  Revolution  : — 

Oliver  Barrett  (lieutenant,  and  ancestor  of  the  Barretts  on  Long  Hill) 
was  at  the  Concord  fight :  Benjamin  Bailey,  William  Bigelow,  Benjamin 
Hastings,  Abraham  Houghton,  Jonas  Houghton  (afterwards  major),  Jona- 
than  Houghton,  Joseph   Houghton,  Carter    Knight,   Nathaniel   Longley 


I 


45 

(captain),  Dr.  Abraham  Moore  (surgeon),  Sewell  Moore,  Haven  Newton, 
David  Nourse  (captain),  IJenjamin  Sawyer,  William  Sawyer,  Jonas  Welsh, 
John  Whitcomb  (colonel),  Israel  Woodbury. 

Among  receipts,  orders  for  marching  and  for  money,  and  other  scraps 
found  among  the  papers  of  Capt.  David  Nourse  (which  were  kindly  loaned 
us  by  his  grandson,  D.  J.  Nourse),  were  lists  of  names  of  men  who  served 
under  his  command.  There  are  several  of  these  lists  —  too  many  to  be 
copied.     We  give  as  a  specimen  the  following : — 

"The  Men  that  1  was  called  to  pay  money  to  in  May,  1777  (not 
signed  or  dated,  but  in  Capt.  Nourse's  handwriting)  :  Amos  iMeriam, 
Abijah  Pratt,  Joshua  Johnson,  David  Rice,  Samuel  Rice,  Nathan  Jones, 
Isaiah  Cooladge,  Isaiah  Bruce,  Elijah  Foster.  Amme/.iah  Knight,  John 
Nurse,  Jonathan  Nurse,  John  Powers,  Silas  Howe,  Silas  Houghton,  Har- 
nabus  Bavlev,  Samuel  Stanhope,  Jonathan  Moore,  Thomas  Pollard, 
Thadeus  Rus.sell,  Eleazer  Johnson,  'l"imothy  Bailey,  Hezekiah  (iibbs,  Jr., 
Jabez  Fairbank,  Nathan  Johnson,  Benjamin  Bruce,  Joshua  Hemenway, 
Samuel  Jones,  ]v.,  James  Townsend,  Jonathan  Meriam,  David  Rice,  For- 
tunatus  Barnes,  James  Fife,  Jr." 

There  are  other  lists,  with  other  names  in  them,  for  which  see  Bolton 
books  (volume  lettered  "  Births,"  page  193,  and  following).-  The  above 
list  is  the  largest  one.  Among  the  collection  of  old  papers  referred  to  are 
some  which  seem  to  show  that  '■  bounty  jumping"  and  procuring  of  sub- 
stitutes were  not  arts  which  had  to  be  learned  at  a  later  d.ay.  .Such  as  the 
following : — 

"Jos.  How  and  Eliakim  Atherton  received  ^30,  lawful  money,  for 
negro  servant  named  York,  enlisted  and  passed  before  James  Barrot  of 
Concord,  for  three  years  in  Capt.  Ashley's  company  in  Col.  Badeson's 
regiment.  Continental  army  —  said  York  to  do  a  turn  for  Bolton  in  Conti- 
nental army.     Waltham,  May  2d,  1777." 

We  find  that  this  "  doing  a  turn  "  for  others  was  not  of  very  infrequent 
occurrence.  To  find  in  what  ways  the  "  Continental"  soldiers  received 
their  pay,  take  receipts  like  this  :  "  For  whole  amount  in  full  of  our  Con- 
tinental wages,  mileage,  nioney  home,  sauce-money,  and  also  our  prize 
money,  for  service  in  the  winter  campaign  beginning  Dec.  13th,  1776, 
ending  March  26th,  1777,  belonging  to  Capt.  David  Nurse's  company  of 
militia,  in  Col.  Josiah  Whitney's  regiment,  of  the  State  of  Massachusetts 
in  New  England,"  so  much  and  so  much.  For  these  and  many  other 
interesting  and  curious  papers,  we  again  refer  as  above,  or  to  the  originals, 
which  ought  to  be  deposited  among  the  archives  of  some  of  our  public 
libraries. 

An  almanac  of  the  year  1776,  in  a  good  state  of  preservation,  ir>  among 
the  papers  we  have  mentioned.  Its  title  page  is  as  follows  :  "  Astronomi- 
cal Diary  and  Almanac  for  the  Year  of  the  Christian  Era,  1776.  By 
Nathaniel  Low,  Ma.ssachusetts  Bay.  Printed  by  Isaiah  Thomas,  in  Wor- 
cester, B.  Edes  in  Watertown,  and  S.  &  E.  Hall  in  Cambridge.  Price  6 
coppers  single,  and  20  shillings  the  dozen."     It  contains  "An  Address  to 


46 

the  Soldiers  of  the  American  Army,"  signed  by  Nathaniel  Low.  dated  at 
Ipswich,  Sept.  22d,  1775:  and  also  "An  Account  of  the  Commencement 
of  Hostilities  between  Great  Britain  and  America,  in  the  Province  of 
Massachusetts  Bay;  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  William  Gordon,  of  Roxbury,  in  a 
letter  to  a  Gentleman  of  England."  The  article  gives  a  detailed  account 
of  the  stores  destroyed  at  Concord. 

[M.     Page  26.] 

Berlin  (formerly  a  district  of  Bolton)  was  incorporated  as  District  of 
Berlin  in  March,  1784;  as  a  town,  Feb.  6th,  1812.  It  did  not  form  a 
separate  religious  society  until  after  the  Goss  troubles  in  Bolton.  See 
Berlin  Centennial  E.xercises.  and  Address  of  Rev.  W.  A.  Houghton,  in 
Clinton  Courant  for  July  8th,  1876. 

Clinton,  now  a  wealthy  and  riourishing  town,  engaged  in  various  kinds 
of  manufacture,  such  as  carpet  weaving,  wire-cloth  making,  the  gingham 
fabric,  &c.,  was  taken  from  Lancaster,  named  after  DeWitt  Clinton,  and 
incorporated  in  March,  1850.  It  adjoins  Bolton  on  the  south-west,  and  is 
connected  with  it  by  good  roads.  After  the  tlrst  start,  it  rapidly  out- 
stript  Lancaster,  the  mother  town,  and  other  purely  agricultural  towns  in 
its  vicinity. 

Hudson,  which  touches  Bolton  on  the  .south-east,  a  flourishing  town, 
employing  many  of  the  Bolton  people,  male  and  female,  in  its  factories, 
for  the  most  part  engaged  in  the  shoe  manufacture,  was  taken  mainly  from 
Marlborough,  and  incorporated  in  March,  1866.  But.  in  tlie  spring  of 
1868,  about  two  square  miles  of  the  most  populous  and  best  tax-paying 
portion  of  Bolton,  was  annexed  to  it.  Till  the  presidential  election  of 
1876,  the  inhabitants  of  the  annexed  portion  continued  to  vote  in  this 
town  in  State  and  L^nited  States  elections.  The  town  is  now  wholly 
within  Middlesex  county.  Its  clo.se  proximity  is  in  most  respects  a  great 
advantage  to  Bolton,  in  others  an  injury.  Like  Clinton,  it  is  connected 
with  this  place  by  excellent  roads. 

In  the  first  part  of  the  address,  mention  is  made  of  the  "  Bay  Road," 
which  "wound  its  .slow  length  "  over  Long  Hill  as  well  as  over  Watto- 
quottoc.  and  was  the  principal  thoroughfare  to  Lancaster,  on  the  one  side, 
and  to  the  lower  towns  and  Boston,  on  the  other.  At  what  time  it  became 
disused  and  a  considerable  portion  of  it  discontinued,  does  not  precisely 
appear.  As  the  "lay  of  the  land"  was  more  studied,  however,  and  engi- 
neering experience  increased,  it  was  .seen  to  be  unnecessarily  winding  and 
long,  as  well  as  needlessly  hilly  :  and  it  was  abandoned  for  the  much  more 
level,  more  short  and  convenient  road  which  now  traverses  the  middle  of 
the  town.  That,  too.  in  its  turn,  has  been  two  or  tliree  times  straightened 
in  certain  portions,  since  its  first  construction. 

Within  the  first  quarter  of  the  present  century,  a  new  road  connecting 
the  town  with  the  North  X'illatre  of  Lancaster  was  constructed,  and  run 


47 

many  years,  by  a  corporation,  as  a  turnpike  road.  P'or  a  series  of  years, 
it  was  much  traveled  and  paid  good  dividends.  But  with  the  introduction 
of  railroads,  and  the  great  change  in  the  traffic  through  this  town  which 
followed,  its  value  as  a  turnpike  speedily  dwindled,  and  it  was  thrown 
open  as  one  of  the  public  highways.  For  convenience  merely,  it  still 
retains  with  many  its  old  name  of  "  Lancaster  turnpike."' 

With  the  springing  up  into  importance  of  the  new  town  of  Clinton, 
with  the  construction  of  the  Boston,  Clinton  &  Fitchburg  railroad,  and 
the  improvement  of  some  of  the  fine  farms  on  Wattoquottoc  Hill  for  resi- 
dences of  wealth  and  elegance,  it  was  perceived  that  the  old,  narrow, 
precipitous,  rocky  and  crooked  road  over  that  elevation,  would  no  longer 
answer.  Accordingl\-,  about  1867,  a  new  road  was  made  over  that  hill, 
connecting  by  a  much  shorter  route  Bolton  centre  with  the  B.  C.  &F.  rail- 
road station,  and  the  village  of  Clinton.  Said  road  was  well  engineered, 
and  though  it  surmounts  a  quite  lofty  summit,  the  ascents  and  desents  on 
both  inclines  are  graded  and  easy.  It  is  one  of  the  most  picturesque 
roads  in  the  country,  conducting  through  some  of  the  most  lovely  scenery 
in  New  England,  and  situations  for  summer  resorts  must  ultimately  be  in 
much  request  on  or  near  its  route.  S.  H.  Howe,  Esq.,  has  occupied  one 
of  the  most  eligible  of  these,  for  some  years.  Mr.  Thomas  .S.  Brackett, 
now  of  Still  River,  Mr.  Daniel  S.  Bryant,  since  of  California,  Mr.  Dwight 
Boydcn,  first  landlord  of  the  Trcmont  House  in  Boston,  and  several  others 
had  owned  and  occupied  the  place  previously. 

In  1808,  as  appears  from  the  papers  and  documents  to  which  reference 
has  two  or  three  times  been  made,  a  Fourth  of  July  celebration  was  held 
in  town  :  the  only  one  of  which  we  have  heard  mention  made,  or  at  least 
the  only  one  in  which  the  whole  town  participated,  and  at  which  they  had 
a  regular  "  oration,"  in  the  approved  canonical  fashion  which  was  form- 
erly observed.  The  oration  was  printed,  and  the  title  page  reads  thus: 
"An  Oration  delivered  at  Bolton,  July  4th.  180S.  By  Abijah  Bigelow. 
Counsellor  at  Law."  Its  motto  is,  "  Be  mindful  of  your  ancestors,  for  the 
example  they  have  left  you  calls  for  your  utmost  ardour."  This  oration 
was  "published  by  request."  To  indicate  its  quality,  we  give  one 
quotation  : 

"  The  preservation  of  a  blessing  requires  as  much  care,  as  much  wisdom, 
as  great  exertions  as  the  attainment :  *  '"  *  as  well  might  we  commit 
the  Constitution  to  the  flames,  as  to  the  hands  of  ignorant  and  unprinci- 
pled men." 

We  avail  of  the  opportunity  furnished  by  this  note  to  add  several  items 
which  will  be  of  interest  to  some  of  our  readers. 

In  1854,  or  thereabouts,  it  was  found  expedient  to  have  the  old  regis- 
tration records  of  births,  marriages  and  deaths  sorted  out,  arranged  in 
alphabetical  order,  and  copied.     By  vote  of  the  town,  the  work  of  arrang- 


48 

ing  and  copying  was  accordingly  done  ;  and  our  books  of  the  kind  referred 
to  can  now  be  used  as  readily  and  easily  as  a  dictionary. 

The  war  of  1812,  with  Great  Britain,  was  very  unpopular,  we  learn,  in 
all  this  region.  Nobody  was  willing  to  volunteer  to  serve  in  it.  There 
was,  however,  a  draft  made  :  and  the  result  was  that  Mr.  Elbridge  Sawyer, 
father  of  our  esteemed  fellow-citizen.  Joshua  Elbridge  Sawyer,  and  the 
late  Mr.  Asa  Houghton.  W2re  drafted,  and  afterwards  served  several 
months  as  soldiers  in  one  of  the  forts  of  Boston  harbor.  So  unused  had 
our  people  become  to  anything  of  the  kind,  that  the  drafting  caused,  we 
have  been  told,  great  commotion,  which  did  not  readily  subside. 

One  of  our  most  popular  and  useful  institutions  is  the  Farmers"  Club, 
started  about  25  or  30  years  ago.  It  is  now  in  a  highly  effective  and  pros- 
perous condition  :  and  has  done  not  a  little  in  reviving  an  agricultural  and 
horticultural  interest  throughout  the  town,  and  in  promoting  housewifery 
operations,  as  well  as  farming  improvement.  It  has  held  three  fairs  and 
cattle  shows,  at  which  the  displays  of  live  stock,  fruit,  and  needle-work 
altogether  exceeded  expectations.  On  these  occasions,  there  were  public 
dinners,  at  which  addresses  were  made  by  popular  speakers  interested  in 
agricultural  affairs.  By  these  means  and  others,  an  impulse'  has  been 
given  to  all  matters  relating  to  rural  economy  and  progress,  that  probably 
will  not  soon  subside. 

Another  enterprise,  in  a  somewhat  different  direction,  has  also  met 
with  good  success,  viz. :  the  Fish  Club,  an  organization  formed  for  stock- 
ing what  considerable  fresh  water  ponds  there  are  in  town,  with  improved 
varieties  of  fish.  This  association  has  been  in  existence  now  about  three 
years,  and  has  competently  stocked  Little  Pond  and  West's  Pond  (the  one 
a  little  under  and  the  other  a  little  over  twenty  acres  in  extent)  with  black 
bass.  These  fish  in  our  ponds  —  it  is  said  by  those  who  have  taken 
observations  —  have  increased  in  numbers,  are  in  good  condition,  and  in 
fulness  of  time  are  expected  to  make  a  sizeable  yield  for  the  frying-pan. 

Nor  have  we  been  without  our  associations  for  mental  and  spiritual 
improvement.  Not  to  mention  various  temperance  organizations  which 
have  existed  at  different  times,  lyceunis,  debating  societies — all  of  which 
have  been  fully  reported  elsewhere,  by  other  ways  and  means  —  we  will 
merelv  record  that  there  have  been  formed  in  town,  in  years  past,  clubs 
gathered  for  the  express  purpose  of  taking  together  publications  of  the 
day  of  one  sort  or  another.  Not  one  such  club  —  to  our  knowledge  — 
has  failed  in  its  objects,  though  some  of  them  have  been  dissolved  in 
course  of  time  by  death  of  members,  their  removal  from  town,  and  like 
causes.  One  such  club,  taking  quite  a  number  of  our  best  magazines  and 
periodicals,  is  now  in  existence,  and  is  doing  well. 

One  other  topic  touched  upon  in  a  former  note,  we  must  return  to  for 
a  moment  before  we  pa.ss  on  to  something  else.  viz.  :  Lancaster  railroad. 
Begun  in  the  early  spring  of  "7'.  Lancaster  R.  R.  was  brought  nearly  to 


49 

completion  in  the  fall  of  '-jt,.  Then,  owing  to  the  alleged  illegality  of 
certain  proceedings,  it  was  driven  into  bankruptcy  by  a  number  of  its 
creditors;  and  there,  through  the  years  '74,  "75,  "76.  and  thus  far  into 
April  or  May,  '-jj,  it  has  lain.  Certain  arrangements  being  made  and 
papers  signed,  and  the  road  released  from  bankruptcy,  it  was  hoped,  this 
spring,  our  eyes  would  be  gladdened  by  the  renewal  of  work  upon  it,  and 
by  its  being  opened  for  travel  and  traffic.  The  spring  is  passing  away,  the 
summer  is  near  at  hand,  and  that  hope  is  not  realized.  But  our  note  M 
has  already  far  exceeded  the  limits  intended  for  it,  and  we  must  pass  to 
other  topics. 

[N.     Page  27.] 

Rev.  John  Walley,  the  second  minister  established  in  their  pulpit  by 
the  town,  was  great-grandson  to  Rev.  Thomas  Walley,  one  of  the  earlj- 
ministers  of  Barnstable :  and  his  grandfather.  Major  John  Walley,  took 
an  active  part  in  the  e.xpedition  against  Canada  in  1690.  Mr.  Walley, 
born  Oct.  6,  1716,  graduated  at  Harvard  College  1734.  married  Elizabeth 
Appleton,  but  had  no  children:  preached  at  Tortsmouth,  N.  H. —  not  as 
settled  minister — in  1744:  was  ordained  in  Ipswich  in  Nov.,  1747.  and 
remained  there  till  Feb.,  1764:  after  which,  preached  for  the  French 
Huguenots  in  Boston,  till  called  to  settle  in  Bolton,  in  June.  1773:  where 
he  remained  till  he  left  early  in  1783.  He  died  in  Roxbury,  March,  1784. 
His  will,  by  which  he  left,  "as  a  token  of  his  love  to  the  congregation  in 
Bolton,"  a  small  legacy,  the  income  of  which  was  to  be  devoted  to  the 
purchase  of  bibles  —  leaving  a  similar  one  to  the  parish  at  Ipswich  —  is 
recorded  in  Suffolk  Registry  of  Probate,  Liber  84. 

He  was  succeeded  by  Rev.  Phineas  Wright,  born  in  Westford,  June, 
1747  :  graduated  with  the  first  honors  of  his  class,  at  Harvard  College,  in 
1772:  ordained  here  Oct.  36.  1785,  Rev.  Dr.  Cummings.  of  Billerica. 
preaching  the  sermon;  married.  May,  1787,  Su.sanna,  daughter  of  Rev, 
John  Gardner,  of  .Stow;  but  he,  too,  died  without  leaving  any  children. 
His  ministry  came  to  an  abrupt  termination  by  a  paralytic  stroke,  in  Dec. 
1802.     See  Allen's  History  of  the  Worcester  Association,  &c. 

We  find  on  record  the  following : 

"At  a  regular  meeting  of  the  Church  of  Christ  in  Bolton,  held  at  the 
meeting-house  on  the  30th  of  January,  1803,  voted  unanimously  to  set 
apart  a  dav  for  fasting  and  prayer,  to  humble  ourselves  before  God,  under 
the  rebuke  of  Divine  Providence  in  the  sudden  removal  of  our  late  be- 
loved pastor  by  death  :  and  to  supplicate  the  divine  blessing,  that  in  due 
time  we  mav  have  an  able  and  faithful  minister  of  Christ,  provided  and  set 
over  us  in  the  Lord,  and  that  we  may  continue  in  peace  and  harmony,  and 
be  preserved  in  Christian  affection  among  ourselves." 

Rev.  Nathaniel  Thayer  was  invited  to  preach  the  sermon  at  the  pro- 
posed fast ;  and  Rev.  Reuben  Puffer  of  Berlin,  and  Rev.  Stephen  Bemis 
of  Harvard,  "  to  join  in  the  services  of  the  day.'"    Mrs.  Wright,  on  the 


=;o 


death  of  her  husband,  did  not  leave  town,  but  lived  with  his  successor  in 
the  ministry  till  her  death. 

Rev.  Isaac  Allen,  born  in  Weston,  1771,  graduated  at  Harvard  College 
in  1798,  was  the  successor:  and  was  ordained  here  March  14th.  1804.  at 
a  time  when  there  was  an  immense  body  of  snow  on  the  ground,  and  the 
travelling  was  difficult  and  dangerous.  Rev.  Dr.  Kendall  of  Weston 
preached  the  sermon  at  his  ordination.  By  an  accidental  fall  on  the  ice, 
when  a  boy,  he  was  a  cripple,  having  ever  afterwards  a  dislocated,  and  at 
times  very  painful,  hip :  and  he  remained  always  a  bachelor.  He  was, 
however,  a  person  of  remarkably  even  and  cheerful  temperament :  of  lively 
wit,  excelling  in  repartee  :  of  sound  common  sense  :  competently,  but  not 
deeply,  versed  in  the  lore  of  his  profession :  and,  though  frugal  in  his 
habits,  spending  very  little  money  for  books  or  in  any  other  way,  one  of 
the  most  kind  hearted  and  hospitable  of  men.  His  benefactions  in  hum- 
ble but  very  efficient  ways  were  numerous ;  such  as  loaning  money  to 
young  men  that  needed  it,  giving  small  sums  to  repair  roads,  or  to  e.xtend 
schools.  By  these  means,  by  his  constant  activity  and  never  failing  sym- 
pathy, as  well  as  by  his  ministrations  in  the  pulpit,  he  had  here,  on  the 
whole,  a  happy  ministry.  He  died  in  March,  1844,  a  few  days  over  the 
fortieth  anniversary  of  his  settlement :  leaving  the  whole  of  his  property, 
real  and  personal,  amounting  to  about  $20,000,  excepting  one  or  two 
small  gifts  to  others,  to  the  parish  '"of  which  he  had  so  long  been 
minister." 

Mr.  Allen's  successors  in  the  ministry  of  the  First  Parish  were  as  fol- 
lows:  Richard  S.  Edes,  B.  U.,  1830,  Camb.  Div.  School  1834  (previously 
settled  at  Eastport,  Maine),  from  the  spring  of  1843  to  the  winter  1848; 
John  J.  Putnam,  of  Chesterfield,  N.  H.  (previously  settled  at  Lebanon, 
N.  H.),  from  Sept.,  '49,  to  June,  "52,  afterwards  of  Petersham  and  Bridge- 
water:  Thomas  T.  Stone,  D.  D.,  Bowd.  College  1820  (for  several  years 
in  the  Orthodox  ministry  at  Andover  and  East  Machias,  Maine,  and  in  the 
Unitarian  ministry  at  Salem),  from  1852  to  i860:  Nathaniel  O.  Chaffee, 
Meadville  Theo.  School,  ordained  at  Montague,  and  settled  in  Bolton 
about  two  years:  Edwin  C.  L.  Browne,  Meadville  Theo.  School  1861. 
ordained  at  Bolton,  April  1863,  and  remaining  here  about  six  years,  after- 
wards in  the  ministry  at  Keokuk,  Iowa,  and  at  Charleston,  S.  C,  where 
he  still  resides :  Ezekiel  Fitz  Gerald,  Tufts  College  (once  of  Shirley 
Village,  afterwards  of  Chelmsford  and  Montague),  here  from  two  to  three 
years:  and  lastly,  Nathaniel  P.  Oilman,  Camb.  Div.  School  1871  (some 
time  minister  at  Scituate),  who  ii  the  present  pastor. 

[O.     Page  28.] 
The  Hillside  Church  was  organized  in  April,   1830,  with  a  membership 
of  eighteen  male-s,  eighteen  females.     It  was  in  the  contemplation  of  the 
principal  mover  in  this  religious  enterprise  to  bring  together  a  corgrega- 


tion  from  five  towns,  viz,  :  Berlin,  Bolton,  Lancaster,  Harvard  and  Stow. 
While  the  novelty  and  first  enthusiasm  lasted,  he  was  entirely  successful. 
The  spot  chosen  for  a  church  edifice  was  a  fine  one,  and  the  octagon 
structure  erected  on  it  was  a  sightly,  as  well  as  a  most  convenient  one, 
having  all  appliances  of  rooms,  closets,  boxes  and  drawers  for  holding 
luncheon  and  articles  of  clothing,  such  as  were  not  often  found  in  churches 
of  that  day.  In  summer  and  pleasant  weather,  tlie  rides  on  the  Sabbath 
to  and  from  service,  over  good  roads  and  through  the  lovely  landscape, 
must  have  been  delightful :  but  in  winter  and  foul  weather,  just  the  reverse. 
As  stated  in  the  address,  after  some  years  trial  of  the  plan,  and  the  settle- 
ment of  four  pastors,  viz.,  J.  W.  Chickering,  D.  D.,  Mr.  Peabody,  Mr. 
Davenport,  Henry  Adams  (Mr.  Wilder  in  the  meantime  having  sold  his 
place,  and  retired  to  another  state),  it  was  abandoned.  Dr.  Chickering 
was  afterwards  for  several  years  pastor  of  a  church  on  High  street,  Portland, 
and  Mr.  Adams  went  into  the  ministry  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church 

in  the  West. 

The  new  Baptist  church,  to  which  reference  was  made,  was  dedicated 

in  186-,  during  the  ministry  of  Rev.  Kilburn  Holt.  The  ministers  of  that 
society  were  as  follows:  Elder  Coddard,  1832-6;  Levi  M.  Powers,  1836: 
Isaac  C.  Carpenter,  1843:  John  Walker,  1814;  P.  S.  Whitman,  1846; 
Asaph  Meriam.  1868:  W.  K.  Davey,  B.  U.,  1856;  J.  H.  Giles,  from 
England,  1858;  J.  H.  Learned,  i860:  Kilburn  Holt,  Colby  University 
1863:  Joseph  Barber,  1868:  Benj.  A.  Edwards,  B.  U.,  the  present  min- 
ister. 

[  P.     Page  28.] 

The  Friends  of  this  locality  reside  for  the  most  part,  in  the  towns  of 
Bolton  and  Berlin,  forming  to  a  certain  extent  a  community  by  themselves  ; 
but  they  by  no  means  isolate  themselves  from  their  fellow-citizens  of  the 
town  or  state.  They  take  as  great  an  interest  in  general  public  measures 
as  do  others :  and  some  of  their  members  are,  and  have  been  in  former 
times,  among  the  most  active  and  leading  men  in  town  meetings. 

The  Bolton  society  —  previously  organized  before  then,  as  it  appears, 
as  a  "  Preparative  Meeting,"  containing  twenty- two  families  and  about  one 
hundred  and  thirty  members,  and  ••  having  a  meeting-house  and  .'^.chool- 
house  near  it" — was  erected,  we  gather  from  their  records  —  into  a 
"Monthly  Meeting"  in  April,  1799.  Their  first  acknowledged  ministers 
were  Thomas  Holder,  Sarah  Holder,  Thomas  Watson,  and  Abel  Hough- 
ton;  their  elders,  John  Frye,  Lydia  Cxates.  Others,  male  and  female,  too 
many  for  mention,  from  that  day  down  to  this. 

[  O.     Page  29.] 
The  members  of  the  Methodist  society  commenced  their   meetings, 
assembling  at  the  town  hall  iii  Bolton,  about  1859-60.     They  had  full  at- 


52 

tendance,  but  their  paying  members  were  few.  Warren  C.  Brown,  a 
young  man  of  promise,  was  their  minister,  and  the  spirit  prevailing  was 
excellent.  Mr.  Brown,  however,  sickening  and  d\ing  of  pulmonarv  con- 
sumption, after  a  residence  here  of  about  two  years,  the  society  disbanded, 
and  is  now  scattered  into  other  societies  of  this  or  otiier  towns. 

[  R.     Page  29.] 

The  physicians,  who  have  made  Bolton  their  home,  and  practised  here, 
were  —  so  far  as  can  now  be  recalled  —  Dr.  John  Barnard,  at  about  the 
period  of  the  Revolution  :  Dr.  Abraham  Moore,  who  served  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary armies ;  Dr.  Levi  Sawyer:  Dr.  Amos  Parker:  Dr.  Leonard, 
since  of  East  Boston  :  Dr.  Hall  Davis,  who  served  during  the  late  war, 
first  as  '-contract  surgeon."  afterwards  as  surgeon  in  38th  U.  S.  colored 
troops;  Dr.  Winsor  H.  Bigelow,  who  also  served  as  assistant  surgeon  in 
the  32d  Massachusetts,  being  present  at  Antietam  and  Fredericsburg ; 
Dr.  Ambrose  Eames,  who  was  private  in  a  Massachusetts  regiment  during 
the  war,  but  came  here  as  a  practioner  two  or  three  years  afterwards,  on 
decease  of  Dr.  Bigelow.  There  were  other  physicians,  we  believe,  who 
resided  here  for  a  time,  but  their  stay  here  was  so  short  that  no  trace  of 
them  was  left  on  our  books. 

[  S.     Page  29.] 

The  town,  throughout  its  whole  history,  has  been  highly  fortunate  in 
the  teachers  it  has  had.  To  say  nothing  of  those  from  among  its  own 
citizens,  who  have  met  with  as  good  success  as  any,  such  as  the  Fryes,  the 
late  Thomas,  his  sons  John  K.,  Thomas  K.  and  his  daughter  Mary  Ann  : 
the  Barretts,  the  Holmans,  the  Jewetts,  the  Sawyers,  and  among  ladies 
the  Mi.sses  Barnard,  Brigham,  Newton.  Nourse,  Parker,  O.sborne,  Sawyer, 
Whitcomb,  and  many  more,  of  whom  it  was  impossible  to  keep  record  :  we 
may  mention,  among  those  who  tried  their  '•'prentice  hand"'  in  our 
schools,  two  presidents  of  Harvard,  tlie  late  Jared  .Sparks  and  the  late  C. 
C.  Felton  ;  and  others  afterwards  distinguished  as  educationists,  or  in  pro- 
fessional life,  such  as  George  B.  Emerson,  afterwards  head  of  a  school  for 
young  ladies,  the  best  perhaps  Boston  has  ever  had :  'Squire  Wood,  a 
well  known  lawyer  and  politician,  late  of  Fitchburg:  Rev.  Nathaniel 
Whitman:  Rev.  Nathaniel  Gage:  Judge  Henry  Chapin  of  Worcester: 
John  A.  Goodwin  of  Lowell,  a  few  years  ago  Speaker  of  the  House  —  a 
list  that  might  be  extended,  but  we  remember  what  else  remains  to  be 
said,  and  forbear. 

Our  list  of  Houghton  -School  teachers,  however,  which  has  been  care- 
fully kept,  we  will  copy,  as  it  is  one  which  many  will  like  to  preserve  for 
reference-     Those  marked  thus  *  deceased: 


53 

Edward  B.  Chamberlin,  L'niv.  \'ermont,  afterwards  clergyman. 
Henry  F.  iMunroe.   H.  V.,   afterwards   teacher  in  Hinc^ham.  and  at 

the  West. 
Moses  Burl)ank,  Watervillc  Col.,  afterwards  superintendent  of  schools 

in  X'ermont. 
(ieo.  W.  Chamberlin,    Lhiiv.  V'er..   lawyer,   sulisecjuently,   in  one  of 

the  Western  states. 
Fhineas  Allen,  H.  U.,  a  teacher  the  most  of  his  life. 
Joiin  M.  Rice,  Hridgewater  Norm.  .School  and  B.  S.  Harv.  .Scientific 

School,  protessor  afterwards  at  U.  S.  Naval  Acad,  at  Annapolis. 
Warren  T.  Copeland,    Bridgewater    Normal    School,    a  professional 

teacher. 
William  H.  Swift,  Williams  College,  teacher  afterwards  in  IMttsfield. 
Henry  Stone,  Bowd.  Col.,  clergyman,  during  war  confidential  clerk 

on  stafi"  of  late  Major  den.  Thomas,   and  now  in  office  of  "the 

Railroad  (Gazette,  New  York  city. 

10.  David  Bentley,  Bridgewater  Norm.  School,  professional  teacher. 

11.  Thomas  Sherwin,  Jr.,  H.  U.,  during  war  adjutant  and  then  colonel 

of  Mass.  22d.  During  his  administration  the  war  broke  out,  and 
heandsever.il  of  his  scholars  enlisted.  Now  Collector  of  city 
of  Boston. 

Henry  S.  Nourse,   H.  U.,  afterwards  adjutant  in  tiie  war  and  com- 
missary of  musters  in  U.  S.  Vols. 

Minot  C.  Cage,  H.  U.,  afterwards  clergyman  at  Nashua,  N.  H.,  and 
(iloucester.  Cape  Ann. 

Frederick   L.  Hosmer.    H.  T..  since  clergvman  at    Northboro",  and 
Ouincy,  111. 

Edwin  T.  Home,  H.  U.,  since  teacher  in  Boston  (Dorchester  Dist.). 

Stephen  W.  Clarke,  Dart.  Col.,  since  teacher  in  Portsmouth,  N.  H. 
*  Henry  L.  Colby,  Dart.  Col.,  died  soon  after  leaving  town. 
*Addison  (iilbert  Smith,  H.  U.,  professional  teacher. 

Sidney  A.  Phillips,  Dart.  Col.,  now  lawyer  at  South  Framingham. 

(ieo.  L.  Chandler,  Bowd.  Col.,  since  tutor  in  Bowd.  College. 

Edwin  R.  Coburn,  Dart.  Col.,  now  law-student  in  Boston. 

Theodore  C.  C.lea.son,  H.  U.,  since  clergvman. 

Samuel  W.  Dollinger,  since  teacher  and  law-student. 

David  A.  Anderson,  Dart.  Col.,  has  continued  a  teacher. 

Alfred  Newell  Fuller,  H.  U.,  since  clergyman. 

James  Frank  Savage,  Dart.  Col.,  since  law-student. 

Albert  Cray,  Bowd.  Col.,  now  teacher  at  Northboro". 

Frederic  S.  Cutter,  H.  U.,  teacher  at  date. 


[T.  Page  30.] 
Joseph  Houghton,  who  lived  where  his  son,  Quincy  A.  Houghton,  is 
now  living,  and  who  died  Nov.  7th,  1847.  having  bequeathed  to  the  to.wn 
of  Bolton  $12. oco  to  establish  a  school  "to  be  kept  near  the  centre  of 
said  Bolton,  in  which  such  Acadkmical  Ixstkuction  shall  be  given  as 
said  town  shall  decide  to  be  most  useful,''  and  also  "  eighty  rods  of  land  " 
(described)  on  which  to  build  a  school-house:  and  the  town  having  ac- 
cepted the  legacy,  and  built  the  school-house  as  required  to  do  ;  —  a  school 
of  the  character  above  indicated,  and  named  after  its  founder  Houghtox 
School,  went  into  operation  in  October,   1849  —  first  in  the  town  hall, 


54 

and,  shortly  afterwards,  when  the  l^nilding  was  ready,  and  certain  ques- 
tions temporarily  disposed  of,  in  the  school-house  itself.  From  a  journal 
kept  by  the  teacher  and  scholars  (still  extant  and  portions  of  it  copied 
into  the  Scliool  Records),  it  appears  that  twenty-five  scholars,  whose 
names  are  given,  were  at  the  first  session,  which  number  was  soon  added 
to,  and  the  whole  new  undertaking  was  started  off  with  much  enthusiasm, 
and  every  assurance  of  success,  which  expectations  were  largely  realized. 
There  was  one  unhappy  drawback,  however.  Nine  families,  named,  with 
their  descendants,  were  excluded,  for  a  century,  by  the  provisions  of  tlie 
testator's  will  from  attending  the  school.  This  kept  out  several  very  prom- 
ising scholars  then  living,  whose  fathers  had  been  taxed  for  building  the 
school-house  :  and  would,  moreover,  produce  a  condition  of  things  threat- 
ening consequences  in  the  coming  time  much  to  be  deprecated.  I5y  an 
amicable  arrangement,  the  difficulty  was  adjusted,  and  tlie  question  of  tlie 
exclusion  of  the  nine  families  carried  before  the  Supreme  Court.  That  tri- 
bunal, after  maturely  considering  the  whole  matter,  hearing  the  arguments 
of  counsel,  &c.,  &c..  decided  that  the  exclusive  clauses  of  the  will  could  not 
be  maintained,  and  accordinglv  set  them  aside,  thus  opening  the  school, 
as  a  free  school,  without  invidious  distinctions,  to  all  properly  qualified 
scholars,  children  of  '^  inhabitants'''  of  the  town.  Thus  commencing,  the 
school  has  continued  to  flourish  till  this  time,  and  its  benefits  have  been 
enjoyed  by  a  large  number  of  our  younger  citizens.  .See  Cushing's  Re- 
ports, volume  8th,  page  nth,  Nour.se  vs.  Merriam.  See  also  full  extracts 
from  the  will  relating  to  the  school.  Dolton  School  Records.  ])age  9th. 

[  U.  Fage  30.] 
Before  the  question  of  establishing  a  Fkkk  Pur.Lic  LniK.\RV  was 
brought  up  in  town  meeting,  it  had  been  discussed  in  private  circles  for 
months;  and  when  it  was  formally  introduced  for  action  by  the  to'vn.  it 
found  most  voters  fully  prepared  for  it,  and  favorably  disposed  towards  it. 
To  Mr.  Henry  Jewett,  then  one  of  our  citizens,  ])ut  since  of  Lexington,  be- 
longs the  credit  of  introducing  the  question  before  the  town.  '•  in  town 
meeting  assembled.''  Movement  to  the  effect  contemplated  at  once  began  : 
a  library  was  started  without  delay,  and  has  continued  to  increase  in  num- 
ber of  books  and  in  efficiency  to  this  time.  It  has  many  users,  and  ha.s 
proved  a  means  of  improvement  and  happiness  of  the  highest  order, 

[V.  Page  31.] 
Lists  of  tho.se  who  .served  in  the  last  war.  or  that  of  1861-65  —  town, 
state  and  national  lists  —  have  been  kept  in  various  forms:  and  those  in 
future  generations  making  inquiries  as  to  who  .served,  and  when  and  where, 
and  from  what  places,  will  be  at  no  ditlicultv  to  find  out.  Every  town  in 
the  state  was  required  by  law  to  keep  its  own  proper  record  of  volunteers 
enlisted  to  its  credit,  and  a  book  for  the  purpose  was  furnished  by  strac 


55 

authority.  In  addition,  at  the  Adjutant  General's  office,  the  rooter  of 
every  regiment  in  the  state  ser\  ice  was  copied,  as  many  interesting  partic- 
ulars added  as  could  be,  the  whole  with  immense  labor  made  as  comj)lete 
as  possible,  and  then  printed  in  two  thick  8vo  volumes.  These  books 
were  sent  to  all  the  towns,  and  given  the  largest  circulation.  Not  to  be 
outdone,  the  General  Government,  while  the  war  was  still  going  on,  not 
only  established  National  Cemeteries  for  interring  the  bodies  of  the  fallen, 
l)ut  has  since  published  in  several  volumes,  under  the  general  title  of 
"  RoiJ.s  OF  Honor,"  detailed  Catalogues  of  the  names  of  all  soldiers 
whose  bodi^'s  are  known  to  be  buried  in  any  of  the  cemeteries  aforesaid, 
•and  along  with  these  to,  give  all  the  information  practicable  respecting  the 
numerous  graves  of  "unknown"  there  to  be  found.  Hereafter,  even 
centuries  hence,  whoever  is  looking  up  facts  and  dates  relating  to  our 
recent  war  will  be  at  no  loss  where  to  find  them. 

[W.     Page  32.] 
Those  who  served  during  the  war,  to  the  credit  of  the  town  of  Bolton, 
were  as  follows  (the  names  under  each  heading  being  arranged  in  alpha- 
betical order).     The  names  of  those  who  died  during  the  war,  and  which 
are  on  the  tablets  in  the  town  hall,  are  printed  in  italics: 

13th  Regiment,  in  which  were  those  who  first  went  out. — Ezekiel  W. 
Choate,  Ledra  A.  Cooledge,  .Silas  A.  Cooledge,  *Samuel  M.  Haynes, 
Edward  A.  Houghton.  Francis  M.  Kimmens,  Charles  McOuillan,  Enoch 
C.  Pierce,  sergeant,  William  A.  Newhall,  Rolla  A'ic/tolas,  Henry  Whit- 
comb,  captain,  John  Thos.  Whittier,  orderly  sergeant.  [*Subsequently, 
soldier  from  Berlin.] 

2d  Regiment. — Henry  Learned. 

15th  Regiment. — John  Fahee,  Tliomas  Jfastiin^rw  Nelson  Pratt,  Thos. 
Sherwin,  Jr.  (captain  of  a  company,  but  company  disbanded  he  went  into 
22d  as  adjutant :  teacher  of  Houghton  School  on  breaking  out  of  war). 
John  S.  Williams,  afterwards  in  4th  cavalry:    John  Wood. 

16th  Regiment. — George  A.  Barnes,  Albert  C.  Hoiii^liton,  Oliver  L. 
Nourse,  sergeant. 

19th  Regiment. — William  Stone,  major. 

20th  Regiment. —  Thomas   Whitman. 

2 1st  Regiment. — Willard  A.  Bowers,  George  E.  Burgess,  Charles  R, 
Haven,  James  Kennedy,  Luke  Ollis  (claimed  and  held  by  Lancaster,  his 
name  on  Lancaster  tablet). 

22d  Regiment. — Gcoriic  IL  Cook%  Charles  .  /.  Try,  Joseph  S.  Hildreth. 
RkJ'us  H.  Williams  (claimed  and  held  by  Berlin,  name  on  Berlin  tablets). 

23d  Regiment. — Amos  B.  Jarvis. 

32d  Regiment. — Windsor  H.  Bigelow,  assistant  surgeon. 

33d  Regiment. — luhoard T.  lutes. 

36th  Regiment. — Henry  H.  Bartlett.  Theodore  H.  Bartlett.  Edwin 
Barnes,  Hiram  P.  Beane,  Reuben  Clapp,  l-lsra  Crocker,  Franklin  T'arns- 
"aiorth,  Andrew  J.  Houghton,  Josiah  Hom^hion,  Walter  Kennedy,  John 
Lake,  George  H.  Patrick,  George  F.  Sawyer,  fjoseph  H.  Sawyer, 'orderlv 


56 

sergeant,  George  H.  Thomas,  Asahel  C.  Wetherbee.  Henry  M.  Wether- 
bee.  Reuben  L,  Wetherbee,  George  S.  Willis.  Elijah  H.  ll'ojdbury. 
[fDied  a  year  or  two  after  the  war  ended.] 

38th  Regiment. — Goixc  //.  Sti^nc. 

47th  Regiment. — Burgess  Taylor. 

57th  Regiment. — James  J.  McVey,  George  Willis. 

5th  Regiment,  Co.  I  (Nine  Months  Men). — *Edmund  B.  Babcock,  F. 
R.  Bennett,  ^ Garage'  A.  Corser,  James  K.  Despeau.  Lyman  Gibbs,  Wm. 
Gibbs,  JAmory  .S.  Haynes,  James  D.  Hurlbut,  James  jillson,  William  H. 
Larabee,  Charles  B.  Newton,  captain.  *Francis  M.  Newton.  Andrew  L. 
Nourse,  William  D.  Pierce,  ^Andrew  A.  Powers,  lieutenant,  |John  H. 
Sawyer,  sergeant,  Isaac  C.  Stratton,  Augustus  H.  Trowbridge,  Charles 
H.  White,  Henry  Wood.  Henry  A.  Woodbury.  [*Reenlisted  in  4th  Cav., 
sergeants,  f  Reenlisted  in  2d  Heavy  Artillery.  :}:Reenlisted  in  Hundred 
Days  Men.] 

5th  Regiment,  Co.  I  (Hundred  Days  Men). — Additional  names,  Jos- 
eph A.  Bryant,  Lyman  L5.  Gates,  Christopher  C.  .\L  Newton,  Amos  P. 
Powers,  Stephen  F.  Smith. 

Nim's  Battery. — Francis  Murphy. 

First  Heavy  Artillery. — Edwin  J.  Brown.  Cliirlcs  F.  Getchell,  luiwiii 
Kilbiini  Holt,  Baldwin  Houghton,  Warren  Houghton.  Stephen  //.  Hunt- 
ing, Charles  W.  Nourse,  Cieorge  W.  I'ratt,  Eugene  .Smith.  Francis  H. 
Whitcomb,  William  W.  Wheeler. 

Second  Heavy  Artillery. — Abel  'James  Collins.  Edward  E.  Houghton. 
Charles  B.  Newton,  George  E.  Sargent,  Charles  G.  Wheeler. 

Third  Cavalry,  McGee's. — Francis  E.  Howard. 

Fourth  Cavalry. — Besides  names  already  mentioned,  Waldo  E.  Kim- 
mens,  Joseph  L.  Alarston.  Abner  AL  Nutting,  William  L.  Osgood. 

Fifth  Cavalry. — Thornton  Hoyden,  colored. 

Fifth  Cavalry,  regular  L^  S.  A. — John  B.  Stanley. 

.Signal  Service. — George  Edwin  Woodbury,  previously  in  First  Cavalry, 
for  Leominster. 

Provisional  Guards. — Ira  A.  Uutton. 

Thomas  Grassie,  chaplain,  with  io8th  N.  Y.  \'olunteers ;  Reuben  M. 
Whitcomb  and  Charles  A.  Wheelock,  suttlers.  with  the  36th  ;  Hall  Davis, 
surgeon.  38th  U.  S.  colored  troops.  Ambrose  Fames.  51st  Regt..  both 
physicians  in  Bolton  after  the  war  ;  Mary  Eliz.  Haynes,  nurse  in  hospitals. 

Regular  L'.  S.  Navy. — Robert  T.  Edes,  assistant  surgeon  in  Farragut's 
fleet  at  New  Orleans,  in  the  flag  ship  "  Black  Hawk,"  Com.  Porter,  on  the 
Mississippi,  and  passed  assistant  surgeon  on  the  "Colorado;"  John 
Henry  Hapgood,  seaman,  in  the  '•  North  Carolina,"  the  "  Potomac,"  and 
the  gunboat  "  L^nion.'' 

Volunteer  Navy. — Henry  Rockwcjod,  assistant  .surgeon  with  Farragut's 
fleet  at  Mobile,  in  the  ••  Itasca."  the  '•  Monongahela."  and  the  "  Poca- 
hontas."    At'ter  the  war,  physician  in  Bolton. 

N.  B. — John  C.  Haynes,  36th:  Luke  Ollis,  21st;  claimed  by  Lancas- 
ter, and  their  names  on  Lancaster  tablet.  Charles  Wood,  Jr.,  claimed  by 
Harvard.  Several  now  citizens  of  Bolton  served  as  soldiers  in  the  quotas 
of  Other  towns. 


:>/ 

[X.     Page  33-] 

The  memorial  tablets  erected  in  the  town  hall  to  the  mcmor\-  of  de- 
ceased soldiers  were  dedicated  on  the  evening  of  Dec.  20th.  1866.  with 
appropriate  observances.  Solomon  H.  Howe.  Esq.,  w'Jis  President  of  the 
evening.  I'raycr  was  offered  by  Thomas  T.  Stone,  D.  D.  Biographical 
Notices  read  by  R.  S.  Edes.  An  Oration  delivered  by  Dr.  Geo.  B.  Lor- 
ing.  A  Poem,  written  by  Amos  W.  Collins,  was  read  by  Addison  G. 
Smith,  teacher  of  the  Houghton  School.  Suitable  music,  including  the 
singing  of  an  original  ode  by  Mrs.  Mary  D.  Whitney  of  Boston,  was  per- 
formed by  the  Hudson  band,  and  by  a  select  choir  under  the  direction  of 
H.  F.  Haynes. 

See  pamphlet,  "Oration  delivered  at  Bolton.  Mass.,  Dec.  20th.  1866. 
at  the  Dedication  of  the  Tablets,'*  &:c.  :  1867,  i)ublished  from  the  office  of 
the  Clinton  Courant. 

N,  B. — To  the  names  of  "recent  introduclion,"  under  note  G,  add 
the  following:  Blood,  Bowers,  Cook.  Graves,  Larkin,  Powers,  Rich, 
Sampson.  A  Blood  family  in  the  earlier  history  of  the  town  :  but  no 
member  of  it  has  resided  here  for  many  years. 

That  no  error.s  or  important  omissions  have  crept  into 
the  foregoing  appendix,  is  hardly  to  be  expected.  It  is 
hoped  they  are  not  numerous.  Indulgent  readers  are 
begged  kindly  to  excuse  them,  as  these  sheets  were  revised 
under  circumstances  rendering  a  careful  scrutiny  ^•ery 
difficult. 


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